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SKETCH 



OF 



CORNISH GRAMMAR 



3i 



BY 



EDWIN NORMS. 



OXFORD: 

AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 
M.DCCC.LIX. 



rifc 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



LETTERS 3 

ARTICLES 12 

SUBSTANTIVES 12 

ADJECTIVES 22 

NUMBERS 23 

PRONOUNS 26 

VERBS 41 

IRREGULARS 66 

ADVERBS 73 

PREPOSITIONS 80 

CONJUNCTIONS 86 

CONSTRUCTION 89 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 



The following Grammatical Sketch of the Corn- 
ish language is made up of the observations jotted 
down by the Compiler, whilst engaged in preparing 
a translation of the three ancient Cornish Dramas 
entitled Ordinalia, contained in a Manuscript belong- 
ing to the Bodleian Library. After a considerable 
portion of that work was printed off, he was induced 
to arrange his notes in some order, for the purpose 
of adding them to the book as an appendix, and by 
doing this he found himself empowered to see fur- 
ther into the structure of the language than he 
anticipated, and to understand many passages 
which he had left as unintelligible ; he discovered 
regularity in many cases where he had supposed 
that all was disorder, and found that much of the 
apparent confusion arose from the entire absence of 
any system of orthography. 

From the way in which this essay was compiled, 
it is obvious that all illustrations of rules given in 
it are drawn from the work alluded to, except 
only in the very few cases where the Mount Cal- 
vary has furnished data for completing the evi- 
dence which the Ordinalia would have left imper- 
fect. It is also a consequence of this way of pro- 
ceeding that a form or a construction of frequent 
occurrence is often elucidated by a single example, 
while a rarer case will be furnished with several 
instances in proof, perhaps all that the compiler 
could find; in the former case there could be no 

B 



reason for hesitation, and consequently no motive 
for accumulating evidence ; in the latter, infre- 
quency produced doubt, which could not be re- 
moved without collating all the cases in point. 

It is necessary to bear in mind that, during 
the whole work of translation, the process was 
tentative. The translator fully acknowledges the 
valuable aid he has received from the grammar of 
Lhuyd and the vocabulary compiled by Tonkin, 
which appeared under the name of Pryce ; without 
them he could have done nothing ; but he must 
say that his suspicion of the accuracy of these aids, 
of the vocabulary especially, was continually on the 
increase ; and that until he had found a word justi- 
fied by frequent repetition and obvious congruity, 
he never felt confident in the value affixed to it, 
unless it were corroborated by "Welsh or Armoric 
analogy. 

The Grammar was more satisfactory, but it was 
chiefly based on the practice of Cornish as spoken 
in Lhuyd's day, a dialect which had lost much of 
the character of the old language in which the best 
monuments were written ; it was also slightly mo- 
dified by the habit of the author, who unconsciously 
deviated now and then into the forms of his native 
Welsh. 

After these observations, the compiler believes 
he may offer this Essay as a useful help to a 
reader of Cornish ; he is quite conscious that it is 
incomplete, but he trusts that what is included in it 
will not be found inaccurate. 



SKETCH OF COENISH GEAMMAE. 



§.1. LETTERS. 

The orthography of the manuscripts is so irre- 
gular, that it is quite impracticable, in a gram- 
matical essay, to follow it into all its varieties ; we 
find every word of any length written in half a 
dozen forms, such as diuath, deweth, dyiveth, 
devyth, dyvyth, dhueth, &c. &c. ; and so short a 
word as kig is found under the forms of kyg, kyc, 
kic, cyk, and probably more. It appears advisable 
in this sketch to keep to one form only, and the 
one selected will be that which most commonly 
occurs ; if this be doubtful, then the form most 
analogous to the Welsh or Breton. The writer of 
the Dramas was guided merely by his ear, which 
was variable, and in addition to this, he was un- 
decided whether he should follow the English or 
Welsh sounds of the letters. 7/ery frequently too 
the handwriting is uncertain ; and nothing but a 
knowledge of the language will enable a reader to 
distinguish between c and t, u and n, b and v, and 
some others. 

For this reason it seems most expedient first to 
give a list of the sounds of the language, and then 
to shew how they are expressed in the manu- 
scripts ; to adopt, as above stated, one form only, 
but in quotations, to follow the original spelling in 
all its variety. 

§.2. Votvels. 

The vowel sounds were a, e, i, o, u, and aw. 
The last was like our a in e all,' a sound hardly 
B 2 



4 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

known in most European tongues ; the others as 
in Italian. 

A, as in c father/ is always made by a in the MS. 
E, as in ' there/ always by e. I, as our ee, is gene- 
rally written y, rarely i, and now and then e, espe- 
cially in the pronoun my, which is often written 
me, no doubt from the influence of English ortho- 
graphy ; in this grammar y is used. and u are 
generally so written. Aw is, I think, always 
written o. 

Lhuyd, who wrote when the language was spoken, 
adopted a turned upside down to express the sound 
of aw ; he thus wrote mos where we find mos. We 
have Jios, O 13a, "a duck," which he would have 
written hvz ; it is hoet in the ancient vocabulary, 
and those who spelled the word by ear wrote haws; 
see Pryce, voc. hoet. It does not appear that aw 
and were etymologically distinguished, any more 
than the vowels in the English words fall and hot ; 
and as in the majority of cases it would now be 
difficult to decide which sound was used, no attempt 
is made here to represent it by a distinct character. 

§. 3. The vowels are liable to a modification 
which the Germans, after Grimm, call " umlaut ;" 
a change which brings the different syllables of a 
word into harmony with each other. It is defined 
as an inflection of a, 0, and u, in the radical syl- 
lable of a word, caused by the influence or attrac- 
tion of an i or u in a subsequent servile syllable 
expressed or understood ; a becoming e, o becom- 
ing 0, (the French eu) and u becoming u (the 
French u). It is such an influence which makes 
feci out of facio in Latin, and feet, men, and elder, 
out of foot, man, old, in English. In Cornish this 
law was strictly observed, though the unsettled or- 
thography produced much irregularity in its ex- 



VOWELS. 5 

pression. I think the following rule will conveni- 
ently shew its practical operation : — whenever a 
word with a or e for its final vowel (and sometimes 
the influence reaches a preceding vowel) receives 
by grammatical change the addition of a syllable 
whose vowel is i (y) or eu, the a becomes e or y, 
and the e becomes y : thus from car, " to love," is 
made kyrys, "loved," R 892, and kyrreugJi, "ye 
love, 1 ' 543 ; from taiv , "to be silent/' comes 
teiveugh, " be ye silent," R 669, and tyivyn, " we 
are silent," R 2527 : from gwel, " to see," gwylsyn, 
" we saw," R 807 : from guas, " a lad," guesyon, 
"lads," D 1299. The letter e, in fact, is neutral, 
and may stand either for a or y : thus we find 
kerry, D 2240, kyrry, 537, or kyry, D 1289, 
" thou mayest love ;" lavaraf, 7, or levaraf, 
1653, " I say." Even English words receive the 
same modifications; as from handle, D 3194, we 
have hy nelly f, R 1531. and u sometimes re- 
main unaltered, but are more commonly changed to 
e; as from elanfon, " to send, 11 elanfemugh, " send," 
R]594; from torr, "to break," eler*, "will break," O 
2184; from cous, "to speak," keus, "speaks," D 1676; 
from curene, " to crown," D 2064, we find kerenys, 
2381 , kerunys, 2391, and kurenys in a variant 
reading of O 2374 ; the difficulty of distinguishing 
e from o in the manuscript will not let me cite 
koroneugh of 2347 as a still further change ; 
arluth, "lord," makes in the plural arlythy, D 
1900. 

A termination in a does not change a root with 
a vowel y ; from pys, " to pray," we have pysaf, " I 
pray," 1390 ; but Iosco from lesky occurs in R 130- 

a In some former state of the language this form must 
have had a final ij it still remains in the Irish verb. 



CORNISH GRAMMAR. 



§.4. Consonants. 

The consonantal sounds are 6, d, th (as in ' the'), 
f, g hard, g soft, h, k, I, m, n, p, r, s, sh, ch, t, th 
(as in 'think'), v, w, wh, z. Of these sounds b, d,f 
h, I, m, n, p, r, s, t, are written in the MSS. regu- 
larly with the letters above given. 

Th, as in the English ' the, 1 is always so written 
in the manuscript of the Ordinalia. It is the 
aspirate form of d, and in Welsh is made by dd ; 
in the British Museum MS. of Mount Calvary, 
and in the Bodleian MS. of the Creation, written 
in 1 61 1, it is made by a character not unlike 3 ; 
those who wrote Cornish in its last days repre- 
sented the sound by dh, and in the very ancient 
Cornish vocabulary the same combination is used ; 
for example, in the word medhec, " a physician." 
The Armoric equivalent is z. I would have written 
dh in this grammar, if I had always been sure of 
distinguishing the two sounds of th, but as this is 
not the case, I write th; a mistake seems of less 
consequence when indicated by a mere dot ; and 
moreover this form is a smaller departure from the 
orthography of the Ordinalia. But I have no doubt 
that I have often omitted the dot when it ought 
to be inserted. 

6r, as in ' gold, 1 is so written in the MSS. Lhuyd 
used the Saxon 5 to distinguish this sound from the 
following. It is now and then irregularly employed 
as an initial instead of d, as in geyth, "a day," 
39, instead of dyth, O 49. 

Q soft, as in ' gentle,' is not a genuine Cornish 
letter, but a simple corruption of s ; we thus find 
pygy, " to pray," and gage, " to leave," instead of 



CONSONANTS. 7 

pysy and gase. It is like the vulgarism of squeege 
for squeeze. Lhuyd sometimes used dzh for this 
sound, a clumsy but accurate representation. I 
have no occasion to mention the sound in this 



H is etymologically equivalent to the Welsh ch ; 
it is the aspirate form of k. Colon, " heart," be- 
comes holon, 2135, and cowethes, "a compan- 
ion," becomes howethes, 113. When final, it is 
almost always made by gh, as in levereugh, "you 
say, 1 ' D 781, the Welsh lafarivch. 

K is made in the MSS., as in English, by c be- 
fore consonants and a, o, and u, and by k before e, 
i, and y. Thus car, " he loves," caradoiv, " be- 
loved," O 1 1 14, kerry, "thou lovest," 3142; 
cref, " strong," D 2539, 2222. Now and then 
we find irregularities in this usage ; as in cemeres 
for kemeres, O 1 123 ; krev for cref, 687 ; cen for 
ken, D 1994. 

There appears to be a trace of the Welsh aspi- 
rate II, if I am right in supposing Behethlen, 
2588, to be Bohellan ; to this I was led by the 
equivalent Beheath-land, given in Pryce's list of 
Cornish villages ; thl might be an attempt to re- 
present the peculiar sound of the Welsh 11. 

No trace appears of the curious change of m 
and n to hm and dn, the latter of which is so com- 
mon in names of places in Cornwall, and in the 
more recent MS. of the ' Creation/ It must have 
crept in between 1450 and 1600, though it may 
have existed in speaking at an earlier date. 

The sound of s was probably like that of the 
English s, varying to that of z when between 
vowels, as in ' rose.' It is this last sound which I sup- 
pose to be occasionally corrupted to g, as mentioned 
before. Sh occurs in English words only, and is 



8 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

written sch or sh ; see sheft, 2494, 
2562. 

Th, as in ' think, 1 is always so written in this 
Grammar ; it is the aspirate form of t, as th is of d. 
The frequent use of th instead of s shews that 
the sound was not so definite as in English ; we 
have grath, 6, instead of gras, " grace ; fath 
for the English face, 141 2; cowys, R 405, and 
coivyth, R410; sacrifyth, 1519, and sacryfys, 
1493. I* 1 Natharet, D 301, for Nazareth, the 
th is probably intended. The equivalent sound has 
become a pure sibilant in Armoric, and is written z. 

Ch is an English sound, and is used in words 
borrowed from English, as chacys, "chased," 
706; cherite, "charity," 1782; cher, "cheer," 
D 1824; chyf, "chief," 2331. The sound must 
have occurred in one genuine Celtic word chy, 
" a house/' which is written with a if in all other 
Celtic languages. Ty is found in the ancient vo- 
cabulary, but I think chy everywhere else. In D 
334, if ow thy be the true reading, we have a 
genuine case of ty with the proper mutation ; but 
the difficulty of distinguishing c from t renders it 
uncertain. Ch frequently occurs in the ancient 
vocabulary where k is intended. 

The sound of v is generally represented by that 
letter, but it is also found not unfrequently ex- 
pressed by/, as in Welsh; unmistakeable instances 
of this are fenygough, "ye bless," D i6^6;fynnaf, 
" I will," D 2496 ; ynfras, " greatly," R 1098. 

W appears to have had the English sound ; it is 
not unfrequently confounded with u, particularly 
after g. 

Wh represents the Welsh chw, but it is often 
confounded with w ; as in ivhylly, D 2101, wylly, 
745, " thou mayest see." 



MUTATIONS OF CONSONANTS. 9 

The consonantal sound of y is made usually by i, 
and sometimes by a character frequently read z, 
but certainly sounded y. We have such a character 
in old English MSS., where we find zouny, sear, 
zou ; it is often so printed in transcripts, but the 
propriety of so transcribing is doubtful. 

Z is not written, but is represented by s, as men- 
tioned before. In one case alone have I found it, 
O 2358 ; see the note on that line. 



§. 5. Mutations of Consonants. 

In all the Celtic languages, many of the conso- 
nants at the beginning of a word suffer changes 
according to fixed rules, under certain grammatical 
or euphonic conditions. In most of these changes 
the Cornish coincides with the Welsh, in a few it 
is more like the Armoric ; the fourth form, or nasal 
change of the Welsh, is unknown. The surds p, 
k, and t, have each two mutations, or three forms ; 
the sonants b, g, and d have one mutation, or two 
forms a ; m has the same change as b. The other 
letters are not subject to change. 

The writers on Welsh grammar have given vari- 
ous names to these several forms : what one writer 
calls the soft form another calls light ; the same is 
named aspirate by one and nasal by the other. I 
therefore propose to call the radical letter the first, 
and the two mutations, the second and the third 
forms, as all are agreed upon the order in which 
they come. When I wish to designate the form 
which ought to follow any given word, I shall occa- 

a The sonants have a second mutation, which will he no- 
ticed presently ; but it is a return to the surd form, and is 
not of the nature of the other changes. I would call it 
negative. 

B 3 



10 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

sionally put a little numeral over the word by way 
of abbreviation ; writing for example oixfl, " my," 
and if-, " his," to shew that the initial consonant of 
the words following these possessive pronouns must 
take the respective forms which the figures point 
out. 

The changes of the surd letters are precisely 
those of the so-called tenues to mediaB and aspiratse 
in Greek grammar ; as it, j3, $, &c. In Cornish 
these are p, b,f; k, g, h; t, d, th. In the sonant 
letters the one change is to what we may call the 
aspirate sonant : b becomes v (bh), d becomes th 
(dh), and g might have been, by analogy, made gh, 
with a guttural sound, perhaps like that of the 
Greek digamma ; but as gh was already employed 
for the aspirate of c when final, and as moreover the 
aspirate gh has in most languages shewn a ten- 
dency to disappear, the g in this state is either left 
out altogether, or changed to w, and more rarely 
to wh, as in D 2156. In the same instances the 
Welsh omits the g, and the Bretons write c'h, un- 
less a w follow the g, in which case g is omitted, as 
in Welsh. M, like b, becomes v. In the sonant 
letters the third form is like the first. 

In accordance with the above described muta- 
tions, we may form the following table : — 



I 


2 3 


p 


B F 


K 


G H 


T 


D Th 


B 


V B 


G 


W, or nothing G 


D 


Th D 


M 


V M 



The cases of mutation will appear in the gram- 
mar, but a few examples are here given : — 



MUTATION OF CONSONANTS. 11 

Ou 3 fehas (pehas), " my sins," 2257 ; y 2 das 
(tas), " his father," 2740 ; ?/ 2 vara (mam), " his 
mother,"" O 2740; ago? threys (treys), "their 
feet," 760 ; ou 3 banneth, " my blessing, 11 O 
2168 ; y- volnogeth (bolnogeth), " his will, 11 2352; 
the 12 wovyn (govyn), "to ask, 11 D 2667; the ase 
(gase), " to leave, 11 D 2035. Once I find ch changed 
to g : the gy (chy), " thy house, 11 1018. 

The sonants b, g, d, are also subject to take the 
surd forms of p, k, t ; this initial mutation is un- 
known to the Welsh tongue, but it is found in 
Armoric ; Zeuss has named it provection. I mark 
the words with ° which produce this change. Ex- 
amples are, ow querthe (guerthe), " selling," D 
1520; a pe (be), "if it were, 11 It 1662 ; ou tos 
(dos), " coming," O 1 65 1 ; mar kruge (gruge), " if I 
do,"D 875 ; yn ta (da), " well, 11 D 1905. We have 
the singular form ou fysky (guy sky), " striking, 11 
1685. 

In Cornish, as in Welsh and Armoric, the /suffers 
no change. It seems however that in the latest 
days of the existence of the language, a mutation 
was made like that of b and m. Lhuyd mentions 
an vordh, "the way," from forth, p. 241, as well 
as a more peculiar change to h in the oblique case, 
as a'n hloh, " of the child," from floh, p. 242. I 
have not seen a trace of such mutations in the 
manuscript. 

In the Armoric, s is regularly changed to z. I 
have found only one case of the change ; it occurs 
in 2358. 

Observe generally that the mutations are often 
neglected in the manuscripts, and nothing must be 
concluded from their absence. This is also the case 
with ancient Welsh, Breton, and Irish writings, 
though the practice is now to insert them regularly 



12 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

in every instance. It is most probable that they 
were always used in speaking, however the writer 
may have neglected to spell in accordance with the 
pronunciation. 



§. 6. ARTICLES. 

The definite Article is an (en) for all numbers 
and genders ; as, an rnyghtern, " the king," R 104; 
an venen, " the woman," D 5 1 6 ; an porthoiu, " the 
gates," R 98. When it is in connection with a 
preceding word ending with a vowel, the article 
usually loses its own vowel, and the n is added to 
the preceding word. In this work the n is divided 
by an apostrophe, which is not found in the manu- 
scripts. 

The article has no inflection, but the cases are 
made by prepositions : as en tas ha'n map ha'n 
spyrys, " the Father and the Son and the Spirit," 
O 4 : an mor ha'n tyryow, " the sea and the lands," 
26 : the'n tas, " to the Father," D 626 : a'n nef, 
"from the heaven," 1319: war an hunys, 
" upon the wood," 1333 : the'n dor, " to the 
ground," 1448. 

The indefinite article is un for both genders ; it 
is rarely used. Ex. un map, "a son," 639; 
worth un venen, " to a woman," 419. 



§. 7. SUBSTANTIVES. 

In Cornish, as in the other Celtic languages, a 
substantive is either masculine or feminine : the 
chief, though not the only grammatical distinction, 
between masculine and feminine, is the change of 



SUBSTANTIVES. 13 

an initial consonant, when mutable, to one of the 
second class, in a feminine substantive of the sin- 
gular number. Examples are : un venen (benen), 
"a woman, 11 O 419 ; an venen, D516; an dre 
(tre), "the town, 11 2282; an wet hen (givethen), 
"the tree, 11 201; an bous (pons), "the robe," 
R 1 92 1-4. The same change distinguishes the 
gender of an adjective used substantively ; as, an 
casadow, m. O2119; an gasadow, f. O 2691, 
" the hated person." 

Males and females have sometimes names of dif- 
ferent origin, as den, " a man," benen, " a woman ;" 
in many cases the name of the female differs from 
that of the male by the addition of es ; as arluth, 
"lord," D 1957, arlothes, "lady," D1965; py- 
stryor, "a wizard,' 1 D 1767, pestryores, "a witch, 11 
2668 ; cowyth, " a male companion," O 2043, 
cowethes, " a female companion, 11 92 ; maw, " a 
boy/' D 1794, mowes, "a girl," D 1876. 



§. 8. Plural. 

The plural number has many forms ; one of the 
commonest ends in ow : the Welsh au, Breton ou. 
A few examples follow : — 

, fathers, O 1409 from tas, O 1. 

dorn, R 2178. 
ro, O 2467. 
fos, O 2281. 
scoforn, D 1144. 
kenter, D 2676. 
deu, O 2564. 
levyr, D 1157. 
ewe/, D 1753. 
tre (Welsh, tref.) 
tyr, D 392. 



dor now, hands, D 1390 
roow, gifts, O 2314, 2598 
fosow, walls, O 2320 

scovornow, ears, D 1361 
kentrow, nails, D 2698 
dewow, gods, O 2692 

lyfryow, books, D 78, 101 
enevow, souls, D 144 

trevow, towns, D 132 

tyryow, lands O 26 



14 



CORNISH GRAMMAR. 



A very common termination for plurals of per- 
sonal words is ion : Welsh ion, Breton ien. These 
generally change the final vowel : — 

Mebyon, sons, O 1038 from map, R 933. 
guesyon, fellows, D 1299 . . guas, R 1824. 
yethewon, Jews, D 2013 . . yethow, D 2003. 
m arregyon,kmfts,-Di6i 3 , _ _ ^^ Q 
marrouggyon, do. O 1039 J 



Some adjectives used as substantives take the 
same form : — 

kefyon, wise persons, D 1 026"! £ * ^ 

•7 F ' f from euf, O 395. 

cufyon, D 1075 J 

gueryon, true men, D 1305 from guyr, R 977. 

Also some common nouns : — 

prevyon, reptiles, O 1160. 

govegyon, sorrows, D 1062. 
empynyon, brains, D 2120. 
marthogyon, wonders, O 2546. 

We have also laddron, "thieves," D 2255, from 
lader, D 1174. 

Many plurals end in y : this form is also found 
in Welsh and Armoric, but not so frequently : — 



ysyly, limbs, 


D 1733- 


esely 


2735. 


mowysy, maids, 


D 944. mowes, D 1876. 


anfugy, sins ? 


D 1473. anfus, D 1501. 


profugy, prophets, 


D 1480. profus, D 1465. 


servysy, servants, 


O235. 


guy thy sy, guards, 


2038. 


arlythy, lords 


D 1900. arluth, D 393. 


mestrygy, masters 


^ I l II '\ mester D 1736. 
D 1647. J 


mestrigi, 



In some words the plural is the stem, and the 
singular adds the syllable en, which is here an indi- 
vidualizing particle. 



SUBSTANTIVES. 15 

delen, a leaf, deyl, leaves, O 254 ; also dylyow, O 777. 
gryghonen, a spark, D 2717, guryghon, sparks, D 2101. 
guelen, a rod, O 1444, gueel, rods, O 1957. 
guethen, a tree, O 186, gueyth, frees, O 28. 
luhesen, a flash of lightning, R 293, luhes, lightnings, 
R296. 

In Armoric, nouns denoting the condition of men, 
as well as names of animals, form their plural by 
adding ed. In Cornish the d has become s as 
usual, and more rarely th : — 

eleth, angels, R 190 from el, R 787. 

myrhes, daughters, O 1038 "I myr gh,02 73 6. 

myrghes, D 2639 J 

benenes, women, O 2247 • • benen, O 256. 

fiehes, children, O 1036 \ fiogh}08o6 . 

flehas, O 1031 ; Jleghas, D 1924 J 

abesteleth, apostles, R 893. 

bredereth, brethren, D714I ,, ^ 

' t^ r • * broder > o 525. 

brudereth, .... D 1430 J 

puskes, fishes, O 43 . . pysk, O 139. 

bestes, beasts, O 312 . . best, O 798. 

eels, O 136. 



Many words have plurals formed by a change of 
vowel only ; this is evidently the umlaut, the Cor- 
nish application of which is described in §.3. Thus 
we have 

trys, D 835, treys, D 2937, feet, from trous, D 860, 

tros, D 2781. 
meyn, stones, D 62 from men, D 32 11. 

breder, brothers, R n 63 .. broder, O 525. 

deves, sheep, O 1065 .. daves, O 127. 

mergh, horses, O 1065 .. margh, O 124. 

tel, holes, D 3174 . . tol, D 3170. 

escarn, bones, O2743I # ^ corWj R 25q8 . 
yscarn, D 3173 J 
Some end in w : — 

knen, dogs, R 172 from ky, R 2026. 

Zysfere, cloths, O 808. 

hynwyn, names O 135 from hanow, R 1669. 



16 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

Words from the English generally take s in the 
plural : — 



persons, 
onours, 


no, 
D 1627, 


persons, 
honours. 


scryptours, 
doctours, 


D 1673, 
D 1626, 


scriptures, 
doctors. 


syres, 

skorgys, whyppys, 

chaynys, 


D 1471, 
D 2056, 
D 2060, 


sirs. 

scourges, whips. 

chains. 



§.9. What the Welsh and Breton grammarians 
call the dual number, viz. a compound of the nu- 
meral with the noun, used only in the case of parts 
of the body which are double, is common in Cornish. 
Example: — dyulef, D 2375, dule, D 2163, "the 
hands," from luef. " hand," D 2755 5 dyivscoth, D 
3068., duscoth, D 2583, " the shoulders/' from 
scouth, D 658 ; dyivvregh, D 3 159, "the arms," from 
bregh, D 2753 ; dewlagas, "the eyes," D. 396; 
dewlyn, O1196, deuglyn, D. 247, "the knees/ 1 
&c. &c. 

When such parts of the body are mentioned as 
belonging to more than one person, a plural is 
used, as dornow, " hands,"" D 1390 ; also lagasow, 
R 1492, " the eyes" of two men. 

§. 10. Cases. 

With the exception of the genitive, all the cases 
are formed, as in English, by prepositions ; as, 
the vyghtern David, " to king David," 1929 ; yn 
Araby, " in Arabia," O 1930 ; a'n pen, "from the 
head," D 1743; a dre, "from home," O 2172 ; 
the'n tas, " to the father," 2619. 

The genitive of attribution, such as might be 
rendered by an adjective, is, I think, usually made 
by a' 2 ; as, Arluth a ras, " Lord of grace," R 767, 
i. e. gracious Lord ; Tas a nef, " Father of heaven," 



SUBSTANTIVES. 17 

" heavenly Father ;" myghtern a gallos, " king of 
power," R 834, powerful king. This is also the 
form of an ablative case ; as, a'y thyivle, " from his 
hands," D3153. But the ordinary genitive is made 
by apposition only, always following the chief sub- 
stantive ; as, myghtern yethewon, " King of the 
Jews," D 1 998 ; mab den, " Son of man," 1 950 ; 
coys Penryn, " wood of Penryn," 2589 ; taves 
den, " tongue of man," 767. Sometimes the 
genitive suffers a mutation for no reason that I am 
aware of, as, pen vys (mys), " the end of a month," 
D 1646 ; pen vyghterneth (myghterneth), "head 
of royalty," R3 13. 

I think I have been in error in printing the 
genitive with the article a'n instead of an. I did 
not at first see the difference between the genitive 
of attribution and the ordinary genitive, and there- 
fore put a'n indiscriminately ; I now should write 
deu a'n nef, " God of the heaven," O 480, i. e. 
" heavenly God," but cusil an tas, " counsel of the 
father," 188. 

§. 11. One of the most interesting peculiarities 
of the Cornish language, which distinguishes it 
from the cognate Welsh and Armoric and connects 
it with the Gaelic dialects, is the possession of a 
really inflected genitive case formed by internal 
vocalic change, of precisely the same nature as the 
Irish genitive. It is true that I find no example of 
this genitive in the ancient Manuscripts, but it cer- 
tainly existed in the modern Cornish a century 
and half ago, when Lhuyd wrote his Archseologia 
Britannica. The passage shewing this case is found 
at p. 242, and I quote it here : 

" They used formerly, and do yet in several 
words, a variation of vowel (whether the first or 
the only one) in the genitive case, &c. 



18 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

" Particularly a, I find changed into e ; as Mark, 
A horse ; Ben verli, Horse mane ; Buzl verh, Horse 
dung ; and e into i, y, or ey : as Merh, A daughter ; 
An vyrh, Of the daughter ; Pen, A head ; Er dha 
byn, Against thee, q. d. On thy head; And Er 
agas pyn huy, Against you ; Huel, Work ; Mein 
hueyl, Work stones, or stones for Building ; Kres, 
The midst ; In kreys an dre, In the midst of the 
Town." 

Now this is precisely the Gaelic genitive, as 
found in the oldest Irish relics, and in the language 
now spoken ; pyn, genitive of pen, is equivalent in 
form and meaning to cinn, genitive of ceann ; mark, 
genitive merh, is like clann, genitive clainn ; Teres, 
genitive kreys, is equal to ean, genitive ein. 

In the compound preposition erbyn (Jvom. er pen), 
" against," a trace of this change is found even in 
Welsh, though the Welsh grammarians do not 
notice it. Lhuyd was led to the discovery of the 
nature of this compound preposition by finding its 
parts separated in the Cornish manuscripts, and a 
governed pronoun inserted between them, though 
he says nothing of its analogy to his own language, 
or to Irish. A Cornish man would say erbyn haf, 
" against summer," O 31, as it is in Welsh; but he 
would say er owfyn, " against me," R 1919, 2573 ; 
er the byn, '* against thee," O 1350 ; er y byn, 
" against him," D 232 ; er agan pyn, " against us," 
D 1 663 ; er agas pyn, " against you," D 1 80 ; and 
er agafyn, " against them," P. 96. 4, with the re- 
gular initial changes, shewing the nature of the 
substantive. 

The ancient Irish is perfectly analogous, though the 
modern dialect does not appear to have retained it 
so closely ; ar ehenn, literally " to the head," means 
" in front of," or " against ;" ar mo chimin, is "be- 



SUBSTANTIVES. 19 

fore me j" ar a chimin, "before him ;" ar ar chiunn, 
"before us," &c. &c. See Zeuss, pp. $jj and 618. 

I have dwelled on this genitive at greater length 
than might seem called for, because it is the only- 
trace of a declension in the Cymric class of lan- 
guages, and is decidedly opposed to the theory that 
cases were developed in Gaelic after the separation 
of the two families ; it impugns also the classification 
■which denies to the Cymric the character of an 
Indo-germanic tongue, on the grounds of the sup- 
posed non-development of declension. 

A substantive preceding another in the genitive 
case never takes the article: as map deu, "the 
Son of God," D 1951 ; both ow thas {tas), " the will 
of my Father," R 157 ; gos ow holon {colon), "the 
blood of my heart," R 166; gorfen beys, "the end 
of the world," D 1704. 

§. 12. The dative case is formed by the 12 , or the 
with the second form ; as the aire (tre), " to town," 
906 ; the gyh {kyk), " to flesh ;" the ivoys (goys), 
" to blood," 66. 

The ablative also takes the second form, as 
a vaghtyth (maghtyth), " from a virgin," D 3027. 

The vocative preceded by a personal pronoun or 
by «, takes also the second form : as, a vap {map), 
"O son," O1336; a vam {mam), "0 mother, 1 ' 
D 2949 ; ty venen (benen), " thou woman," R 917 ; 
ty vaow (maow), "thou boy," 2317. 



§. 13. Derivation of Substantives. 

Abstract substantives are derived from adjectives 
by adding ter after a surd consonant, and der after 
other letters : 



20 



CORNISH GRAMMAR. 



x. dader, goodness. 


D 1296 from da, good. 


guyrder, truth, 


1732 . 


guyr, true. 


guander, weakness, 


D 2618 . 


guan, weak. 


yender, coldness, 


D 1223 . 


yen, cold. 


golowder, brilliancy, 


1413 . 


golow, light. 


tekter, beauty, 


D33 • 


tek, beautiful. 


whekter, sweetness, 


359 • 


whek, sweet. 


uthekter, horror, 


D 2653 . 


uthyk, frightful; 




R 


2340, uthek, 798 


melder, sweetness, 


R457 • 


mel, honey. 



Adjectives in s, anciently ending with t, recover 
the t in becoming substantives ; as, 

caletter, hardness, O 1524, from cales, hard, O 1525, 

D927. 
goscotter, shelter, O 361, is the probable reading from 

guskys, O 356, the Welsh gwasgod. 
ponvotter, trouble, O 363, from ponvos, R 1327, but 

these two examples are hardly regular, the roots 

having rather the value of substantives. 

Other abstract substantives take eth or neth a , 
but their simpler form is more commonly a sub- 



stantive : — 






guyryoneth, truth, 


D 2029 from guyryon, true men. 


cosoleth, rest, 


1725 . 


cosel, 2073. 


skentuleth, wisdom, 


D 1809. 




bolungeth, will, 


D 2053. 




myghterneth, royalty, 


R3I3 • 


myghtern, a king. 


folneth, folly, 


R961 . 


. fol, R 953, a fool. 


gokyneth, stupidity, 


D 1808 . 


. goky, 173, a fool. 


muscoghneth, madness, D 1990 . 


. muscok, crazed, D 961 


gowegneth, falsehood, 


R 906 . 


. gowek, a liar, R 55. 


roweth, bounty, 


O884 . 


. ro, a gift, 2467. 



Abstract substantives derived from verbs com- 
monly end in arts : — 



a Welsh and Armoric analogy would require eth, 
Lhuyd wrote always eth. See his Grammar, p. 240. 



but 



SUBSTANTIVES. 21 

crygyans, belief, D 1813 from crygy. 

gyvyans, forgiveness, D 1816 .. gafa. 



dysquy thy arts, declaration 
gorthyans, worship, 
bewnans, life, 
bewnens, . . 


>Oi733 .. 
OJ738 •• 
8 4 8\ 
701 J " 


dysquethya. 
gorthe. 

bewe, to live. 


mernans, death, 


1522 .. 


maruel. 


sylwans, salvation, 
sylwyans, 
trystyns, sadness, 


01958 .. 

R26II. 

D 1023. 


sylwel. 



Arlottes, "a lordship," D 16 14, is from arluth, 
" a lord ;" wythres, " a work," or thing made, O 
1069, 1853, from myth, "the doing," O 2572, 
D 3029, is analogous to the Welsh gwaith and 
gweithred. 

A substantive signifying a doer is sometimes 
made by adding or to a verb or noun, as tyor, " a 
tiler," 2486, from ty, " to cover," 2475. See 
also pystryor, "a wizard," D 1767, from pystry, 
"sorcery," D 1765. 

In the ancient vocabulary several such names of 
agency end in iad or iat. Similar forms become 
in the dramas guy thy as, " a keeper," O 692 ; syl- 
vyas. " a saviour," D 252, R 307. 

We have a termination va in powesva, " rest," 
O 145 ; cofva, "remembrance," D 827, and dy- 
wethva, " end," D 728. 

It may be given as a rule without exception, that 
words ending with t or d in Welsh or Breton, do, 
if they exist in Cornish, turn t or d to s ; and this 
whether genuine Celtic, or borrowed from Latin or 
English ; as, nans, " a valley ;" goys, " blood ;" 
gwyls, "grass;" guyns, "wind;" ros, "net;" 
pons, " bridge ;" tas, " father ;" spyrys, " spirit," 
corresponding with nant, gwaed, gwellt, giuynt, 
rhwyd, pont, tad, yspryd. 



CORNISH GRAMMAR. 



§.14. ADJECTIVES. 

The adjective usually follows the substantive, 
and if the latter be a feminine singular, the ad- 
jective takes the second form, when the initial is 
mutable. Examples are, " gobar bras, " great re- 
ward," R 673; mor ruyth, " red sea," O 1632; 
merkyl tek, " fair miracle," 1450 ; luef gleth 
(cleth), "left hand," D 2747 ; cusyl tha {da), 
" good advice," 2802 ; benen vas {mas), " good 
woman," R 1697. In guyr vres, " true judgment," 
D 515, and guyr gos, "true blood," D 1506, the 
adjective precedes. 

According to Lhuyd, p. 243, an adjective with y 
for its vowel was made feminine by changing y to 
e ; as, guyn, m. guen, f. " white ;" melyn, m. me- 
len, f. "yellow." I do not know sufficiently the 
genders of nouns, and adjectives are not of very 
frequent occurrence, so that I have not noticed the 
change ; but it is consistent with Welsh Grammar. 

The comparative and superlative degrees both 
end in a {e) without distinction ; as, brasa, " great- 
er," from bras, D 793 ; ithella, " highest," D 
2189, from uhel, O 805; or Idle, "more faith- 
ful," 1 11 1, from lei. The finals ch and f(m), 
which make a difference between the degrees in 
Welsh and Armoric, have disappeared in Cornish, 
though in the last days of its existence Lhuyd added 
an apostrophe or h to shew the comparative. The 
adjective in these stages appears to come rather 
before than after the substantive. Example: — 
Uhella arloth, "most high Lord." D 2189; gokye 
den, "most foolish man," R1454; lacha mester, 
"a worse master," D 2275 ; lelle ethen, "more 



OTMBERS. 23 

faithful bird," 1 1 1 1 ; tehke alter, " a fairer altar/ 1 
O 1 177 ; brasa gallos, " greatest power," D 793 ; 
guel guyn, " better wine," 19 14 ; but we find also 
guyn guella, "best wine," O 1904; dyllas guella, 
" best clothes," D 256. 

" Than" after a comparative is made by ys, es, or 
ages. Example : — ivhekke ys mel, " sweeter than 
honey," R 144 ; moy es spencer, " greater than a 
butler/'' D 802; teke ages kyns, "fairer than be- 
fore," D 348. 

Some comparatives appear to have no root ex- 
tant ; as, guel or guella, " better ;" gueth, " worse," 
R 2026, and perhaps guetha, D1130; moy, 
141 4 ; mogha, D 510; moghya, D 513 ; moghye, 
D 514, " more or most," and perhaps a few more. 

Adjectives are often made from substantives by 
the addition of ek or yk. Examples are : — 



R 752, powerful, from gallos, O 12 14. 
ounek, D 2158, fearful, . . own, O 1452. 

lowenek, R 1333, joyful, . . lowene, D 574. 

marthusek R 11 76, wonderful, .. marthys, O 756. 
morethek, D 3187, mournful, . . moreth, O 35S. 
ponfosyk, R 1256, troubled, .. ponfos, R1327. 
anfusyk, R 1520, mischievous, . . anfus, D 1501. 
whansek, D 37, desirous, . . whans, O 1806. 
dyscrygyk, R 1369, incredulous, from the verb crygy, 
to believe. 



§.15. NUMBERS. 

The following list of cardinal numbers is partly 
from the Manuscripts, and where no authority is 
cited, from the list published by Pryce ; the words 
between brackets are intended as corrections of 



CORNISH GRAMMAR. 



the loose forms given in Pryce's list, made 


by the 


analogies of Welsh and Armoric. 




i. 


un, D. 160, 446, with a substantive. 
onan, 3. onon, R 1403, alone. 




2. 


deu, D 2577. dyw, O 1690. dew, R 315. 


3- 


try, m. R 374, 870. 






tyr, f. 828. tyyr, f. 1729. ter, f. 


D147. 


4- 


peswar, m. R 563. 
pedyr, f. 772. 




5- 


pymp, D 505. |?2/m, R 867. 




6. 


wAe, D 351. 




7- 


seyth, 599. sy£A, R 2494. 




8. 


eath, (eyth.) 




9- 


naw, R 661. 




10. 


dek, D 574. 




ii. 


ednacJc, (unnek.) 




12. 


dewthek, D 228. 




13- 


tardhak, trethek. 




14. 


puzwartliack, (peswarthek.) 




15- 


pymthek, P. 228, 1. 




16. 


Tiuettag, whettak, (whethek.) 




i7- 


seitag, (seytek.) 




18. 


eatag, (eythek.) 




19. 


nawnzack, (naunthek.) 




20. 


iganz, (ugens.) 




21. 


wonnan war iganz, {onan war ugens.) 




3° 


dek warnugens, D593. dek warnugans 


,01554 


40. 


deu ugens, D 45. deu hugens, R 2437. 




46 


dew ugens ha whe, D 351. 




50. 


deg ha duganz, (dek ha deugans) 
or hanter cans, 957. 




60 


tri iganz, (try ugens), P 227, 3. 




70 


(try ugens ha dek.) 




80 


padgwar iganz, (peswar ugens.) 




90 


padgwar iganz ha dek, (peswar ugens 


ha dek) 


100 


cans, D 506. can, R 515. 




200 


dew cans, 657. 




300 


try cans, D 536. trey hans, 1996. 
try hans, 955. 




500 


pymp cans, D 505. 




700 


syth cans, R 2494. 




900 


naw cans, C. p. 142. 





NUMBERS. 25 

iooo. myl, D 212. R 348. 

dek can, D 574. 
5000. pymp myl, P 227, 2. 
7000. syth myl, R 2494. 
100,000. cans vyl, 1614. 
1,000,000. myl vyl, R 132. 
mylyon, R 2258. 

It will be observed that the awkward composition 
of numbers between ten and fifteen used in Welsh 
is avoided in Cornish as it is in Armoric ; though 
it is retained in numbers above twenty. The sin- 
gular Welsh mode of making the numbers between 
fifteen and twenty is unknown here. The Cornish 
has retained the distinction of genders in the nu- 
merals three and four, but in " two" it seems to 
have been lost, though retained in Welsh and 
Armoric. 

We have the plural of myl in the Creation, p. 54, 
moy es millyow a bynsow, " more than thousands 
of pounds." 

Substantives following the numerals are put in 
the singular number ; as, naw ahveth, " nine keys/' 
R 661; deu ladar, "two thieves," D 2577; dew 
ugens dyth, "forty days," O 1027. 

When numbers are compounded, the substantive 
is placed after the first ; as, dew ugens blythen ha 
whe, " forty and six years/' D 351. 

Ordinal numbers, after the earlier ones, are 
formed by adding ves to the cardinals; ves is 
clearly the Armoric ved and Welsh fed; it may 
have been a corruption of guyth, ' f a time/' in 
Welsh givaith. 

1st. kensa, D 795. 
2nd. secund, O 17. 

nessa in Pryce's list. 
3rd. tresse, O 25. trege, R 339. tryge, R452. 
4th. peswere, O 33. pyswere, D 2851. 
5th. pympes, 41. 



26 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

6th. whefes, O 49. 
7th. seythves, O 144. 
8th. eathas, (eythves.) 
9th. nawas. 
10th. degves, O 426. 

All the rest have vas in the lists ; the analogy of 
the Welsh and Armoric, and the seythves of the 
MS. for seithvas of the list, show ves to be the true 
form. 



§. 16. PERSONAL PRONOUNS. 

Personal pronouns may be practically considered 
as indeclinable ; it is true that some of them have 
two forms, but the second of these is not so much 
that of an accusative case, as a changed form re- 
quired by position in respect to its regimen ; in the 
same way the French moi and toi are not so much 
the accusative cases of je and tu, as the forms used 
when they are less closely connected with a verb 
than those called exclusively nominatives ; it is true 
that je and tu are nominatives, and that moi and 
toi are generally accusatives ; but these are also 
sometimes nominatives, and this is the case with 
Cornish personal pronouns. These two forms I 
would name the first and second states. When 
personal pronouns follow certain particles ending 
with vowels, they are abbreviated and otherwise 
altered ; this I would call a third state : when con- 
nected with a preposition, they are also abbre- 
viated, but in a different way, which may be termed 



PRONOUNS. 



27 





i 


2 


3 


4 


I 


my, me 


vy 


'm 


'f, 'm 


Thou 


ty 


sy,gy 


'd, 'th 


's 


He 


ef 


ef, e 


'n 


'o 


She 


hy 


ty,y 


's 


'y 


We 


ny 


ny 


'n 


'n 


You 


why 


why 


's 


'ugh 


They 


y 


y 


's 


'e 



a fourth state. It will be more intelligible if all the 
forms be put together in a table, to which it will be 
convenient to add the possessive pronoun, because 
the strictly personal pronouns sometimes put on the 
possessive form. 



possess. 

the - 
2,2 

y 3 

agan 
agas 
aga s 



When a personal pronoun is used alone, or when 
it is the subject of a verb, it is put in the first 
state: as, 

my a vyn, I will, O 2283. 

me re goskes, I have slept, R 511. 

ha my ynno ef, and I in him, R 2387. 

ty yu, thou art, R 751. 

a ty lacob, O thou James, R 1007. 

ty re wruk, thou hast done, O 2243. 

ty ha'th wrek, thee and thy wife, D 685. 

ef a vyn, he will, O 2427. 

ef hag ol, he and all, D 636. 

hy a torse, she would break, O 2174. 

ny a'n tregh, we will cut it, O 2533. 

why a?npren, you shall pay it, R 621. 

why losels, you rogues, D 2589. 

y a'n guanas, they pierced him, R 1 1 17. 

Hy sometimes stands for the neuter, where in English 
we should use ' it ;' as, kyns hy bos nos, " before it be 
night," O 2769. 

When the personal pronouns come after verbs, 
they take the second state ; in most of the following 
examples they come after imperatives : as, 

gas vy, let me, O 2703. 

vy, preserve me, R 1564. 

C 2 



28 CORXISH GRAMMAR. 

the naghe gy, to deny thee, R 1156. 

ky chough ef, catch him, D 1007. 

gorreugh ef, put him, R 2077. 

synsew e, hold him, D 1086. 

lath e, kill him, D 2356. 

hertheugh hy, thrust her, R 2295. 

lath ny, kill us, O 972. 

na blamyowg ny, do not blame us, R 649. 

gor y, put them, O 334. 

gura y, make them, D 2674. 

In the following examples they follow verbs used 
as conditionals or subjunctives, or they are used by 
way of emphasis, or perhaps merely from the neces- 
sities of metre : as, 

ny welqfvy, I do not see, R 1962. 
ma thyllyfvy, that I go, R 182. 
may fythe gy, that thou mayest be, O 1327. 
prag y whruste sy, why didst thou? O 277. 
may tebbro ef, that he may eat, O 200. 
bysmay cothe hy, until she fall, O 2718. 
fatel wrussyn ny, how that we did, R 1341. 
dun ny, let us go, O 2325. 
ny wreugh lohy, ye do not, O 317. 
mayfewg why, that ye may be, O 1163. 
may fens y, that they may be, O 1833. 
may fons y, that they may be, O 2424. 

When the personal pronoun is the object of a 
verb in the indicative or subjunctive mood, in which 
case the verb is usually preceded by a particle 
ending with a vowel, the pronoun is abbreviated as 
in the third column, and affixed to the particle, 
making one word with it. In this book the particle 
is separated from the pronoun by an apostrophe for 
the guidance of the reader, as is done in Welsh, 
though no such division is found in the Manuscripts. 
Examples : — 

del y'm kyrry, as thou lovest me, O 2403. 
aban y'm sawyas, since he healed me, O 1774. 



PRONOUNS. 29 

me a'th cusyl, I advise thee, R 1130. 

my a'dpys, I pray thee, O 2521. 

an laddron a'n dyalas, the thieves mocked him, R 1426. 

ha re'n dros, and hast brought him, O 282. 

my ny'n guylys, I did not see him, D 1286. 

my a's guy sk, I will strike her, O 2709. 

my a's henow, I name her, O 114. 

hag a'n doro, and will bring us, O 225. 

re'n sawye, may it save us, O 1088. 

mar a's guel, if he see you, D 1003. 

my a's gueres, I will cure you, O 2017. 

me a's ygor, I will open them, R 638. 

mar ny's cafaf, if I find them not, R 647. 

homma re's holhas, she has washed them, D 520. 

There is an indeterminateness about the pronouns 
in this state, n signifying " him" as well as " us," 
and s belonging to three different persons ; this 
has probably led writers in most cases to take the 
possessive forms, either directly or with some modi- 
fication, in the first and second persons plural ; as, 
ef a gan formyas, "he created us/' R 2430; a 
gan gruk, " who made us all," R 1 975 ; y gen 
lowerihas, "he gladdened us," R 1444; my a gas 
pys, " I pray you," 2346 ; re ges bo, " be it on 
you," O 2585; ma gys byth, "that there be to 
you," 348. 

When a personal pronoun comes before a verb as 
its complement, without such particle as is men- 
tioned in the preceding paragraph, it takes the 
form of the possessive. Examples : — 

re ruk ow tholle (tolle), hath deceived me, O 286. 

the rewardye my a ra, I will reward thee, O 2310. 

me ny fynnaf y grygy (crygy), I will not believe it, R 

1047. 
greugh y tenne, do ye drag him, R 2232. 
worth hy thempte (tempte), to tempt her, O 303. 
hyfrenne (prenne), to take it, R 2234. 
worth agan dry alemma, for carrying us hence, R 151*. 



30 



CORNISH GRAMMAR. 



ef a ruk agan dyfen, he did forbid us, O 182. 
agan cuthe guren, let us cover ourselves, O 254. 
pan wruge ages danvon, when I did send you, D 913. 
war beyn agas bos lethys, on pain that you be killed, 

O 2556. 
my a vyn aga threhy (trehy), I will cut them, O 1735. 
aga guelas trueth, to see them was pitiful, R 899. 

These pronouns may in fact be considered as 
possessives, coming as they do before infinitives, 
which are really verbal nouns. 



§. 17. Pi 



with Prepositions. 



Many prepositions coalesce with the pronouns 
which they govern, forming with them one word. 
In this case some euphonic artifice is used to unite 
the two elements into a well-sounding compound : a 
consonant is doubled or omitted, or a syllable is 
added, and the vowels undergo the changes de- 
scribed in §.3. I give here examples of the various 
modes ; and it will be seen that the pronouns are 
represented in these compounds by the following 
letters: m or f, "me;" s, "thee;" o, "him;" y, 
"her;" n, "us;" ugh, "you;" e, "them," as 
given in the fourth column of the table in the pre- 
ceding section. 

The prepositions exemplified are yn, " in ;" rag, 
" for, before ;" dre, " by, through ;" gans, " by, 
with ;" ivar, " upon ;" a, " from ;" the, " to ;" 
orth or worth, "towards." 



yn, in. 

ynnof, in me, R 707. 

ynnos, in thee, R 757. 

ynno, in him, D 2157. 

ynny, in her, D 2164. 

ynnon, in us, R 1321. 



rag, for, before. 
ragof, for me, O 139. 
ragos, for thee, O 260. 
ragtho, for him, R 1251. 
ragthy, for her. 
ragon, for us, D 174. 



PRONOUNS. 



31 



ynnough, in you. 

ynne, in them, O 2457. 



ragough, for you, D 27. 
ragthe, for them, O 2456. 

ragas in O 1723, 1724, D 
265, &c. has certainly no- 
thing to do with rag, but 
is contracted from re agas. 



dre, by, through. 

drethof, by me, O 134. 
drethos, by thee, R 2220. 
dretho, by him, R 1756. 
dry thy, by her, O 1668. 
drethon, by us. 
drethough, by you. 
drethe, by them, O 1958. 



gans, by, with. 
genef, by or with me, O 219: 



genes, 


. with thee, 2169 


ganso, . 


. with him, R 744. 


gynsy, . 


. with her, 2764 


genen, . 


. with us, 2378 


geneugh, . 


. with you, R 1797 


ganse, . 


. with them, 161 3 



gynef, D 564. gynen, R 1347 
genaf, 672. genogh, D 184 
gynes, D 191. gansse, D1373 



war, upon. 

warnaf, upon me, O 1344. 
warnas, upon thee, O 1015. 
warnotho, upon him, O 1539. 
warnethy, upon her, O 775. 
warnan, upon us, O 1700. 
warnough, upon you, R 1535. 
warnethe, upon them, D 2686. 

warnogh, D 2626. 



the, to. 

thym, O 2286. 
thys, R 1473. 
thotho, O 2500. 
thethy, O 2755. 
thyn, R 1483. 
theugh, D 2500. 
thethe, O 1824. 



a, from, of. 

ahanaf, from me, D 306. 

ahanas, from thee, R 1408. 

anotho, from him, R 742. 

anethy, from her, D 923. 

ahanan, from us, O 1101. 

ahanough, from you, R 1500. 

annethe, from them, O 1952. 

ahanes, O 406. 
annotho, O 200. 
annethy, O 218. 



rfyw, D 741, to me. 
dys, O 1969, to thee. 
dot ho, R 1445, to him. 
dethy, D 2202, to her. 
dyn, R 2361, to us. 
deugh, to you. 

def&e, R 2600, to them. 



thyugh, O 2399, theygh, D 4; ?%, D 2246, dy, D 124. 



32 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

worth, orth, at, to, against. 

worthy/, O 170. orthyf, O 2524, to me. 

worthys, R 1570. orthys, to thee. 

worto, O 222. orto, R 1343, to him. 
tvorty, O 293, D3069. orty, O 2173, to her. 

worthyn, R 121 1. orthyn, O 212, to us. 

worthough, R 1171. ortheugh, R 195, to you. 

worte, O 2476. orte, to them. 

Some of these forms receive an additional syl- 
lable, either by way of emphasis, or for filling up a 
line; we have thymmo, O 2256, or thymo, 2333, 
"to me;" thyso, 2433, or dyso, O 219 1, "to 
thee ;" thynny, " to us/' R. 626. Sometimes the 
pronoun is repeated in the second state, as thymmo 
vy, R 446 ; thyso gy, 2246 ; dyso sy, 842 ; 
ynno ef, R 2387 ; worty hy, 269 ; thynny ny, 
R 568 ; theugwhy why, 2209 ; annethe y, 
1952. 



§.18. Possessive Pronouns. 

These pronouns are placed in the last column of 
the table in p. 27, but are repeated here for con- 
venience : — ovP, " my •" the"-, " thy ;" y' 1 , " his ;" 
y*, " her ;" agan, " our •" agas, " your •" ago?, 
" their ;■" and the pronoun of the second state may 
or may not follow the noun. 

ou thermyn (termyn), my time, 2344. 
owferyl (peryl) vy, my peril, O 197. 
the vap (map), thy son, O 2341. 
y gorf(corf), his body, O 2367. 
y voth (both) ef, his will, O 483. 
yfeghas (peghas), her sins, D 528. 
hy huth (cuth) hy, her affliction, O 297. 
agan lef, our voice, O 2027. 
agan arluth ny, our Lord, R 1655. 
agen elien, our class, O 2066. 



PRONOUNS. 33 

agas myghtem, your king, O 2348. 
agys crygyans, your belief, R 2389. 
ages ancow, your death, R 612. 
ages guyth why, your keeping, R 651. 
aga threys (treys), their feet, O 760. 

The possessive, like the personal pronouns, com- 
bine with certain prepositions : chiefly a, " of " or 
"from;" yn, "in," and the, "to;" also with the 
conjunction ha, "and;" ow is then changed to m, 
making thu'm, " to my/' (distinct from thym, " to 
me,") y'm, " in my •" a'm, " of my ;" ha'm, " and 
my." The, " thy," throws away the vowel in the 
same cases ; the other possessives, beginning with 
vowels, suffer no change, except that agas and again 
may lose the initial vowel. I do not know whether 
agan, "of our," agas, "of your," should be so- 
written, or a gan, a gas; they should be joined 
perhaps in the ordinary genitive, which requires 
no preposition, and divided where a means rather 
"out of" or " from." See p. 16. 

Thum gulas, to my country, R 879. 

y'm colon, in my heart, R 760. 

a'm offryn, of my offering, O 530. 

a'm cleves, of my malady, O 2631. 

ha'm gorty, and my husband, O 181. 

the'th corf, to thy body, R 487. 

a'dpehosow, of thy sins, O 2259. 

y'th tour, in thy palace, O 2389. 

ha'th vaw (maw), and thy boy, D 2236. 

a'y passon, of his passion, R 759. 

th'y wleth (guleth), to his kingdom, O 2370. 

th'y thyskyblon (dyskyblon), to his disciples, R 794. 

ha'y volnogeth (bolnogeth), and his will, O 2352. 

ha'y avalow, and its fruits, O 176. 

th' again dysyr, to our desire, R 1206. 

d'agan arluth, to our lord, O 2580. 

y gen lyfryow, in our books, R 2411. 

a gys company, of your company, D S68. 

y ges golok, into your sight, R 1861. 

03 



34 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

ivar gas flehes, on your children, D 2643. 
h'agas myghtern, and your king, O 2348. 
h'aga hynwyn, and their names, O 35. 

A possessive followed by Jionan (honon) becomes 
the more intense personality which we render by 
" myself, himself," &c. I do not think it is ever 
the reflected pronoun. 

my a vyn mos oiv hon^n, I will go myself, D 87. 

ow colon ow honan, my heart of myself, or my own 

heart, R 2042. 
the honan, thyself, O 1455. 
the honyn, thyself, O 345. 
y honan, himself, R 2065, 2073. 
agan honan, ourselves, O 16. 
agas honon, yourselves, D 545. 
ages honan, yourselves, R 642. 



§. 19. Demonstratives. 

The adjectival demonstrative pronouns are ma 
{me) and na (ne), suffixed to the substantive they 
refer to. I have, in the text, divided them from 
their substantives with a hyphen, but in the Manu- 
script they are written in one word. There is no 
distinction between singular and plural. Example : 

yn bys-ma, in this world, O 1886. 
an guel-ma, these rods, O 1739. 
yn ur-na, in that hour, D 1899. 
yn wlas-na, in that country, R 2461. 
yn uur-ne, in that hour, D 1372. 

Sometimes keth is added, to make the demon- 
strative more definite, as, 

an keth den-ma, this very man, D 1590. 
an keth deu-na, that same God, O 1485. 
an keth re-na, those very (persons), O 1879. 

Sometimes the m is doubled, as in dremme, "this 
town," O 2284; dremma, "these places," 2771 ; 



PRONOUNS. 35 

chymma, D 66 J, chemma, R 1397, "this house;" 
and a lemma, " from this place/' 446. Alemma, 
" from this place/' and alena, " from that place," 
are in frequent use as adverbs, meaning " hence" 
and " thence." 

The substantive demonstratives distinguish the 
masculine from the feminine : — 

hem or hemma, m. horn or homtna, f., this. 
hen or henna, m. hon or honna, f., that. 

Examples — 

hem yu marth, this is a miracle, R 654. 

me a dyp bos hemma, I swear this is, R 2508. 

homma keffrys, this (woman) also, D 519. 

hen yu guyr, that is true, R 977. 

y volnogeth yu henna, his will is that, O 2352. 

hon yu cusylfyn, that is fine advice, O 2041. 

guyr vres yu honna, a true judgment is that, D 515. 

honna yw ol the vlamye, she is all to blame, O 266. 



§. 20. Interrogative Pronouns. 

The Interrogative Pronouns are all resolvable to 
py and^xz, "■who,"" "what." 

pan vernans, what (is) the death ? R 2047. =pa + an. 

pa hanpleyt, what (is) the plight? R 2058. 

pandra wylly, what dost thou see ? O 801. =pa + an + dra. 

pendra wreth, what wilt thou do ? R 203. 

py nyl a mogha sengys, which one was most bound r 

D510. 
py gymmys hys, what amount of length ? O 2104. 

When the pronoun ' who ' comes without addition, 
it appears to be rendered by pyu, or pyw, either in 
the nominative or the accusative, as, 

pyu a ylta gy bones, who canst thou be ? R 251 1. 
pyw a whyleugh, whom seek ye? D 1109. 



36 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

but generally pyu is equivalent to py yu, " who is," 
as, 

pyu myghtern a lowene, who is the King of joy ? R 106. 
pyu henna, who is that ? R 2487. 

The addition of pynag makes the pronoun inde- 
finite : — 

py penag vo, whatever it he, O 1154. 
pe penag vo, whatever it be, O 662. 
py le penag, whatever place, D 1551. 
pyu penagh a len grysso, whoever faithfully believes, R 
2466. 

This receives sometimes the addition of ol, " all." 

py penag ol a sconyo, whoever may object, O 2388. 
py penag ol a wharf 0, whatever may happen, R 67 1 . 

"When the p is doubled, as in puppenagol, peppenagol, 
I think the first syllable is pup or peb, " all." 

Now and then pynag comes alone, as, 

pynag a wharf an cas, whatever may be the case, 1698. 

pynag afo, whatever it be, R 2000. 

pynak vo lettrys py lek, whoever he be, lettered or lay, 

D681. 
penag a wryllyf amme, whomsoever I shall kiss, D 1084. 



§. 21. Relative Pronouns. 

The Relative Pronoun is represented by a and 
nep (neb) ; as, 

afue genys, who was born, D 1652. 

a wruk Moyses the planse, which Moyses did plant, 

O 1946. 
tas a wruk nef, the Father who made heaven, O 1785. 
Urry nep marrek len, Uriah, who was a trusty knight, 

O 2338. 
neb a glewsys, whom thou didst hear, O 224. 
the nep yu ioy ow colon, thou who art the joy of my heart, 
' R456. 



PRONOUNS. 37 

Nep often includes the antecedent, like the Latin 
qui : — 

neb yu moghya, he who is greatest, D 792. 

ha nep na'?i gruk, and he who has not done it, R 158. 

When the relative is in the accusative case, or is 
governed by a preposition, a personal pronoun in 
the required case is sometimes put after the verb, 
as in the Semitic languages : " whom I saw" is 
made " who I saw him ;"" " to whom I spoke,"" 
" who I spoke to him f as, 

a thanfonas e, whom he sent, D 1692. 

py gansse, hy whom, D 1373 (i. e. who by them). 

The relative is often omitted, as in English : 

ou thus us gene, my people who are with me, D 1122. 
the vap Ysac yw the ioy, thy son Isaac, who is thy joy, 

o 1374. 

yn le na fue den bythqueth, in a place where man never 
was, D 3135. 

Nep is also an indefinite pronoun : — 
yn nep f os, in any wall, O 2458. 
See also nep peyth a oel a vercy, " some of the 
oil of mercy/' 327 ; nebes, in D 208, 495, is pro- 
bably a mere contraction of nep peyth. 

Myns may be considered as a relative pronoun, 
including in itself the antecedent ' all/ like our 
word ' whatever.' 

Jceusyns den myns a vynno, let a man say all that he will, 

R 2448. 
hag ol myns 0, and every thing that was, R 127. 
myns yu guyryon, whoever are innocent, R 163. 
rale kuthe myns us formyys, to cover all that is created, 

O 22. 
ty a fyth mens a vynny, thou shalt have whatever thou 

wilt, D 590. 

Kemmys, kymmys, " as many as/' or " whoso- 



38 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

ever, 11 the Armoric kement and Welsh cymmaint, 
is frequently used : 

hemmys re wruk both ow thas, as many as have done the 

will of my father, R 157. 
Tcemrnys na greysa, whoever believes not, R 176. 

It is used as a substantive in py gymmys hys, 
"what amount of length/ 1 2104. 

Kynyver is like kemmys : — kynyver peyn us yn 
beys, " any punishment there is in the world/' 
R 2055 ; kynyver best us yn tyr, " as many beasts 
as are in the world," 1215 ; see O 1029. 

Suel is another relative rarely used ; the Welsh 
sawl. I find only one case of its employment : py 
suel a vynnyth, "whatever thou wilt/' D 592. 

It is possible that sul a the'n we/" in R 136,, (sul 
for suel,) which I have made " going up to heaven," 
may be " who is going to heaven." In Mount Cal- 
vary suel is used at least three times: in 2. i. a 
and 79. 2, where we have suell a vynno, it means 
"he who ;" in 119. 4, suel a ivresse, "that which." 



§. 22. Miscellaneous Pronouns. 

The following have been observed in going over 
the text, but it is not believed that these are all. 

"The one" and "the other/' when opposed, are 
sometimes made by nyl and gyle : — an nyl a delle 
jyymp cans, ha hanter cans y gtjle, " the one owed 
five hundred, and a half hundred the other/' D 
504, 506 ; me a gylm an nyl, ha me a gylm y gyle, 
" I will bind the one, and I will bind the other/' 
D 2785, 2788. 

a Misprinted cuell, which misled Zeuss. 



PRONOUNS. 39 

Sometimes "the other" is made by aval, in 
plural erel: — an nyl torn y fyth re hyr, tres aral 
re got, " at one hand it is too long, by the other too 
short/' 2548, 2549. 

Aral is always used with a substantive : 

ioseph ha tus erel, Joseph and other persons, R 3. 

en thyu grous erel, the two other crosses, D 2820. 

pie kefyr dyu grous aral, where may two other crosses be 
found, D 2576. 

In this last example aral may be put in the sin- 
gular for the sake of the rhyme ; this would be ad- 
missible in consequence of the singular form of the 
preceding word after a numeral ; as also in lyes 
profits aral, "many other prophets/' R 1485. 

In Armoric, eben is used for " the other/' when 
feminine ; and I believe the following lines contain 
cases of a similar pronoun in Cornish : — 

My a dyl tol rah hybeen, i( I will bore a hole for 
the other/' D 2749, follows a line by another 
speaker, me a teyl tol rag an nyl, " I will bore a 
hole for the one," D 2743. As the allusion is to 
the feminine noun luef, " the hand/' there cannot 
be much doubt in the case. 

In why drehevough ybeyn, "you raise the other/' 
D 2826, the case is not so sure, because the allu- 
sion may be either to the man or the cross ; both 
are mentioned, but crous is a feminine noun. 

In the third case, ty a theg a neyl pen, cachaf 
yben, " thou carry one end, I will seize the other," 
O 2816, pen is masculine ; so that either the Corn- 
ish does not follow the Armoric, or the last clause 
will awkwardly mean " I will seize its end." 

The word ken, which is usually a conjunction, 
as in D 481, is also used for ' other ;' as, 

nag us ken deu agesos, there is no other God than thou, 
R 2477- 



40 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

a wylsta ken, dost thou see any other thing, O 795. 
the kenpow, to another country, R 2218. 
yn ken lyw, in another colour, R 2534. 

"Any" is made by nep, which is placed before 
the substantive it refers to ; as, 
yn nep maner, in any way, R 497. 
yn neb gulas, in any land, O 1120. 
yn nepfos, in any wall, O 2458. 

' ' Any " may also be made by byth, placed after 
the substantive ; as, 

den vyth, O 2457, or denfyth, any man, D 148 1. 
trumeth vyth, any mercy, O 1650. 

mar quren fiogh vyth deny thy, if we do any children pro- 
duce, O 390. 

01 added to byth makes it more indefinite, as, 

den byth ol, any man whatever, R2169. 
onan vyth ol, any one of them, O 1697. 
mar pyth drok vyth ol gureys, if any evil is done, O 601. 

Pup, " all," is used alone, or with a substantive ; 
and sometimes with the addition of ol : — 
ynpup tra, in all things, O 2354. 
guetyeugh pup y worthye, take care all to worship it, O 

2555- 
pup den ol, all men, O 1043, D 1905. 
war pep ol mamas ty, over all but thee, O 948. 
gans pup ol, by every body, R 1096. 
pup huny, every one, O 969, 2017. 

Ol is used in the same way : 
gulan yu ol, all are clean, D 864. 
ol the chy, all thy house, O 2340. 
arluth dres ol an bys-ma, lord above all this world, D 1683. 

Kettep, " every :" 

marow vethyn kettep pen, dead we shall be every head, 

O 1655. 
yn kettep pen, every head, D 762. 
kettep onan, every one, D 2821. 



VERBS. 41 

Lyes, lues, " many," is used with a substantive 
singular : — 

yn lyes le, in many places, D 749. 

ynno lues trygva, in it many dwellings, O 951. 

lyes prof us aral, many other prophets, R 1485. 

Re is like a substantive, meaning " persons" or 
" things :" 

an re-ma yu oberys, these (things) are made, O 15. 
cafus re me a vyn, take those (persons) I will, R 184. 
an keth re-na, these same (men), O 1897. 
the wruthyl gans an re-na, to do with them, D 182. 



§. 23. VERBS. 



The Cornish verb, in conjugation, in forms, and 
in the number and use of its tenses, approaches 
more nearly to the Armoric than to the Welsh verb, 
though some of its forms are more like those of the 
latter dialect. 

Every verb may be conjugated in three different 
modes ; in the first, which I call the Inflected con- 
jugation, every tense and person has its own form, 
as in Latin and Greek, and it is equally rare to find 
a personal pronoun used as it is in those languages ; 
it is not done unless emphasis be required ; as, my 
ny gresaf, " I will not believe (if you do), R 904. 

The present tense of the verb care, " to love," 
is in this mode of conjugating made, caraf, keryth, 
car, keryn, carough, carans. 

In the second mode, which Breton grammarians 
call the Impersonal conjugation, the third person 



42 CORXISH GRAMMAR, 

singular is taken for the whole tense, and the 
persons are distinguished by the added pronoun, as 
in English and French. The present tense is thus, 
my a gar, ty a gar, ef a gar, ny a gar, why a 
gar, y a gar ; car becomes gar by the influence of 
the affirmative a 2 , used when the subject precedes 
the verb. 

In the third mode, which may be conveniently 
called the Compound conjugation, the auxiliary 
"to do" accompanies the verb to be conjugated, 
precisely in the same manner as is done in the 
English, " I do love," &c. The sole difference is, 
that the Cornish extends this addition of the auxi- 
liary verb to cases where we do not use it ; saying 
not only " I do love" and "I did love," but also 
" I will do love." The first tense would thus be 
generally, my a wra care, " I do love," ty a wra 
care, " thou dost love ;" and if used personally, 
which is less frequently done, guraf care, gureth 
care, &c. 

There can be no doubt that these various modes 
show a corruption in the language, which the more 
classical Welsh would disdain ; but it appears prac- 
tically to have conferred facilities in the expres- 
sion of certain modifications of meaning, akin to 
those we find in English from the use of ' might/ 
1 could/ ' would/ ' should/ &c, which the stiffer 
forms of Latin, or even German, would hardly ad- 
mit of. 

§. 24. We may here notice what are called by 
Zeuss the verbal particles, y' 2 , a 2 , and re-. Y and 
a are used only in affirmative sentences, and the 
chief difference I find between them is that a is 
used where the nominative case precedes the verb, 
as in me a wra (gura), " I will do," R 1755 > e f a 



TENSES. 43 

vynse (mynse), "he would have wished," O 2224; 
urry afyth (byth) lethys, " Uriah shall be killed," 
O 2123 ; and y where the nominative either follows 
or is omitted ; as, y /yen lethys, " I should be 
killed," 2120; y ma moyses pel gyllys, " Moses 
is gone far," 1682. 

I did not discover until a good deal of the work 
was printed, that yth, which frequently occurs, is a 
mere euphonic change of y before a vowel : see yth 
arghaf, "I command," O381 ; yth ymwanas, "he 
stabbed himself," R 2065 ; yth emwyskys, " he 
smote himself," R 2067 ; yth af, " I will go," R 
2400, &c. &c. In ythanwaf (=yth hanwaf,) O 
123, and ytheuel, O 19, an h is omitted; see yth 
Jieuel, R 249 1 . In like manner the participal ow 3 
(see below, in the participles,) may become owth 
before a vowel, as in outh emloth, D 2509, owth 
ysethe, D 2342, outh ymwethe, (" craving," from 
the Welsh ymhwedd) R n 70, owth egery, "open- 
ing," D 2999 ; and the conjecture hazarded in the 
note on D 932 will be well founded. As in the 
case of y, there is the omission of h in outhenivel 
( = outh henivel), 2729. 

The use of the particle re will be given under 
the Third tense 



§.25. Tenses. 

There are five tenses, analogous in form, though 
slightly differing in value, to those of Welsh and 
Armoric verbs. I distinguish them by numbers, to 
avoid any ambiguity which might attend the vary- 
ing practice of writers on Celtic grammar. No 
distinct division of moods is made here, because 
many of the forms are used as indicatives as well as 
subjunctives. 



44 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

The First tense is used for present or future time. 
The termination of the first person was af in the 
three languages, though the Bretons now write 
ann. The Welsh use this tense almost always as a 
future, expressing the present by a periphrasis : 
the Bretons keep to the present time, and use the 
Fifth tense as a future ; in Cornish it is most com- 
monly used for present time : the frequent use of 
the Compound conjugation enabled the Cornishman 
to make a separate future, though he still continued 
to use the First tense for future time occasionally. 
Taking the verb care, " to love," as our example, 
the present tense is — 

caraf, keryth, car .- keryn, carough, carons. 

The Second tense is the imperfect of Welsh and 
Breton grammarians ; Zeuss named it the secondary 
present. It is sometimes used as an indicative, 
sometimes as an optative or subjunctive, a potential 
or a conditional. This vagueness is unnecessary in 
Cornish, because the Compound conjugation gives a 
fair conditional ; but the Cornish writers neverthe- 
less retained the variety of meaning occasionally 
with the simple form, and even confounded it with 
the Fourth tense. The first person ends with en in 
Cornish, enn in Armoric, and wn in Welsh. The 
whole tense is made — 

caren, cares, care (cara) : caren, careugh, carens. 

The Third tense is the Preterite, and its use is 
the same in the three languages. The first person 
ends in ys in Cornish, ais in Welsh, and is in 
Armoric. The whole tense is — 

Tcerys, kersys, caras : kersyn, carsough, carsons(ans). 

The Fourth tense is named the Preterpluperfect 
in Welsh and Armoric ; Zeuss called it the second- 
ary perfect. Its use in those languages is in ac- 



TENSES. 45 

cordance with its name, but it is more commonly 
employed as a subjunctive or conditional. In Corn- 
ish, so far as I have observed, it is used as a con- 
ditional only, and it is frequently confounded with 
the second tense. The first person in Cornish ends 
with sen, in Welsh with sivn, in Armoric zenn. The 
whole tense is — 

carsen, carses, carse : carsen, carseugh, carseris. 

The Fifth tense is a subjunctive present or future 
in Cornish, and in Welsh, I believe, rather future 
than present ; in Armoric it is the Future indica- 
tive. The respective terminations of the first person 
are yf, wyf, if {inn). The plural of this tense is 
often confounded with that of the Second tense, and 
it will be seen generally that there is a good deal 
of irregularity in the inflections, which makes the 
paradigm given rather theoretically than practically 
exact. The whole tense is — 

kyryf, kyry, caro : kyryn, kyreugh, carons. 

The Imperative is — 

car, cares or carens : caren, careugh, carens. 

The infinitive takes many forms ; sometimes it is 
the simple root, sometimes a vowel is added to the 
root, and sometimes el, es, &c. In the example 
given here, the termination is e, as care. 

The active participle is made by prefixing ow°, 
changing a sonant initial to its surd form ; as in 
Armoric, where o talea, " delaying," is from dalea, 
"to delay," 

The passive participle ends in ys, as kyrys. 

The passive verb ends in er or yr, which by 
Welsh analogy should designate the present and 
future tenses ; but I find no difference in their use ; 
er is far more frequent than yr; the past tense 
ends in as, and a conditional is found in ser. 



46 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 



§. 26. As the above enumeration differs in some 
degree from the plan of Lhuyd, I shall give several 
examples of each form used, when there is any 
doubt. 

I. Tense. First person : — gowegneth ny garaf 
(carqf), "1 do not love falsehood," R 906; lava- 
raf theugh newothow, " I will tell you news/' R 
894. In this person /is sometimes omitted for the 
sake of rhyme ; as, ny vynna, " I will not/' O 
1330 ; a wela, " I see/' 1396 : lavara, " I say," 
1645, D 1. 

Second person : — ny geusyth (keusyth, from 
cous), "thou dost not speak," D 2 181 ; ny a'n 
tregh del levereth, " we will cut it as thou sayest," 

2533 ; ny'm guelyth arte, " thou shalt not see 
me again," 244. 

Lhuyd makes i the termination ; but this is the sub- 
junctive. 

Third person : — neb may fe moghya geffys, a 
gar {car) moghye, " he who is forgiven most, loves 
most," D 513 ; mar kyf carynnyas y tryg, "if he 
finds carrion he will stay," O 1103, 4. 

It is seen by these examples that some verbs make no 
change in this form, as car j while others, as kyf from 
caf, are subject to the rule of §.3, notwithstanding 
the absence of a final i, which is quite lost in the 
Cymric dialects, though it existed in the old Irish, as 
cairi, " he loves." 

First person plural : — ny gemeryn (kemeryn) nep 
lowene, " we take not any pleasure," R 2365 ; 
amen pigyn, "Amen, we pray," D 199; leveryn 

01 thotho, " we will all say to him," D 2880. 

Lhuyd makes this termination on. 

Second person plural : — ny ivothough (gothough) 



TENSES. 47 

ow gorthyby, "ye knew not how to answer me," 
D 1484 ; prag yth hembrenkygh, " why do ye 
lead 1 D 204. 

Lhuyd ends this in oh. 
Third person plural : — ny ivothons (gothons) py 
nyl a wrons, " they know not what they do/ 7 D 
2774 ; ny'n cresons ef neffre, " they will never 
believe it," 1440. 

Lhuyd writes anz. 

II. Tense. First person ; Indicative : — ny wo- 
thyen (gothyen) man, " I did not know at all," 
R 2559 ; byth ny wylyn (guylyn), I did not see 
any thing/' R 434. 

Subjunctive: a's dysken, "if I take it off," R 
1 941 ; a quellen (guellen) ivyth, "if I could see 
once," 685 ; py le penag y's Icyffyn, "wherever 
I find a place," D 1551. 

Conditional : ru'm fay a'n caff en, " by my faith 
I would take him," R, 289. 

Second person; Indicative: — ny wothas (gothas), 
"thou didst not know," D 21 81 ; why lyes, "thou 
wast seeking," R 1680. 

Subjunctive, &c. : a tryckes yn tre, " if thou 
hadst stayed at home," R1381; (confusion of tense) 
ny wothes (gothes) ivheth, " thou mayest not know 
yet," D 848 ; beys vynytha y wharthes (gitar- 
thes), "for ever thou wouldst laugh," 153. 
See also D 2862, 2864, for conditionals ending 
in ys. 

Third person : — hacre mernans ny gaffe den, 
" a more cruel death a man may not find," R 2074 ; 
byth ivel cusyl a lavarre, " any better advice who 
can tell," R 422 ; nCm gorre th'y wlas, "may he 
bring me to his country," 532 ; py plas y thy lie, 
" where he may go," D 635 ; kyn y'n carra, 



48 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

"though he may love him/' R 1897 ; pan dre- 
menna an bys-ma, "when this life may pass, O 
875; me a'n gafse a menne gehvel, "I would for- 
give him if he would ask/' D 1816; war Ihesu 
me a cry as thymmo gafe, "I cried to Jesus that 
he would forgive me/' R 1100; golow na wella 
(guella), "that he may not see light/' R 2003. 

First person plural : — na wrellen buthy, " that 

we be not drowned/' O 1048 ; bys venytha na sor- 

ren, " nor should we be troubled for ever/' 220. 

Such forms as wreny, D 190, and veny, D 604, are 

probably orthographical variations of wren ny and 

ven ny. 

Second person plural: — mas y'm gorthebeugh, 
" unless ye answer me/' R 47 ; pysougli na en- 
treugh yn temptacyon, "pray that ye enter not 
into temptation/' D 1059. 

Third person plural : — avorow thifs may teffens, 
" that they come to thee to-morrow/' 2417 ; me 
a vynse a talfens, " I would they were worth/' 
D 211. 

I believe this is the tense which Lhuyd makes mai liuel- 
lam, huellaz, huello, huellan, huelloh, huellanz, with 
the exception of huello. 



III. Tense. First person : — ol an tekter a 
(guylys), "all the beauty that I saw," O 766; 
worto y keusys, " I spoke to him," R 897 ; y vyrys 
y wolyow, ■' I saw his wounds/' R 898. 

Second person : — tersys an bara, " thou didst 
break the bread/' R 13 18 ; mob deu o neb a wyl- 
sys (gylsys), "the Son of God it was whom thou 
sawest/' O 809. 

Lhuyd makes this termination yst, which is Welsh 
rather than Cornish ; the Armoric agrees with the 
Cornish in the insertion of a sibilant. 



TENSES. 49 

Third person : — cleivas agan lef, " he heard our 
voice," 2027 ; un marrek an lathas, " a horse- 
man slew him," 2226. 

I am inclined to think that dorrasa, in pan dorrasa an 
aval, " when he plucked the apple," O 879, is a 
subjunctive form of this tense, as in the irregulars 
wruge and thuhe. 

First person plural : — leveryn del luylsyn (guyl- 
syn) ny, " let us speak as we saw," R 807 ; an 
corf a worsyn (gorsyn) yn beth, " the body which 
we placed in the tomb," R 49. 

Second person plural : — an onor a wrussoagh 
(grussough) thy'mmo, " the honour which you did 
to me," D 3 1 2 ; corf a worseugh (gorseugh) why, 
"the body which you placed," R 43. 

Third person plural : — pan y'n lathsons, " when 
they killed him," D 3098 ; ny torsans chy, " they 
did not break the house," R 662. 

The addition of the word re 2 , corresponding 
with the old Welsh ry, re, now seldom, if ever, 
used, (see Williams's Dosparth, &c. Llandovery, 
1856, pp. 130,131, and Zeuss, p.420,) turns this 
tense into the preterperfect, and was of frequent 
use in Cornish : — 

ef re gollas an plas, he hath lost the place, O 420. 

an sarf re ruk ou tholle, the serpent hath deceived me, 

O286. 
my re wruk prenne, I have redeemed, R 2622. 
hy re gafes, she has found, O 1143. 

Re is also frequently found with the third person 
singular of the Second or Fifth tense, in the impera- 
tive or optative sense ; as, re'n Jcergho an deivolow, 
" let the devils fetch him," R 2277 ; re wronntyo, 
"let him grant," 1726; re bo, "let him be," 
R 241 7 ; re by gorthys, " be he worshipped," R 



50 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

2523; riCm gorre, "may he bring me/' 532. 
It often occurs in the phrase ragas bo, for re agas 
bo, and once, 1724, in ragas guytlio. In 2585 
it is written re ges bo. The verb eth, " he went/' 
takes s after re: see re seth, D 1027, 1246 s1 . 

IV. Tense. First person: — guelas ow map y 
car sen, " I would love to see my son/' R 442 ; 
desefsen merivel, "I would have desired to die/' 
R 1771 ; mensen, "I would wish/' R444. 

In R 289, 290, we have an example of the confusion be- 
tween this and the Third tense : a'ra caffen, y'n toulsen, 
" I would take him, I would cast him." It is pos- 
sible, however, that the reading may be cafsen. 

Second person : — the'n nef grusses yskymie, " to 
heaven thou wouldst ascend/' 156. 

Third person : — ny garse pelle beive, " he would 
not like to live longer/' 738 ; yn tridyth y'n dre- 
qfse, " in three days he would rebuild it/' D $66. 

First person plural : — ny nifn drosen thy'so gy, 
"we would not have brought him to thee/' D 
1976. 

Second person plural : — pan cleuseugh cous, 
"when ye heard speak/' D 1338, (may be the 
Third tense). 

Third person plural : — ny ivrussens (grussens) 
ow dystrewy, " they would not have destroyed 
me/' D 2777. 

Lhuyd gives a tense corresponding with this in form : — 
guelzen, guelzez, guelze ; guelzen, guelze" , guelzenz, or 

a This verb, in all its forms beginning with a vowel, takes 
s, or its equivalent th, after the conjunction mar and some 
others. In this it is like the vocalic forms of the verb sub- 
stantive, as well as in its frequent accompaniment of yth. 



TENSES. 51 

guelazzenz : he makes it the preter-pluperfect tense. 
He also gives a subjunctive future, guylfym, guylfydh, 
guylyf; guylfon, guelfo, guylfynz : this is certainly 
one of the compounds of the verb substantive, of 
which there are many in the other dialects as well as 
in Cornish : adnabod in Welsh and anavout in Armo- 
ric are instances. I think I find clewfyf, " I should 
feel," in O 135 1 ; clewfo, "that he may hear," is cer- 
tainly the reading of D 3063. The Breton makes the 
conditional vafenn, zenn, and jenn, indiscriminately. 
A Cornish future in fyth (wyth, vyth) is often found 
impersonal : — ty a wylfyth (guylfyth), " thou shalt 
see," O 1449 ; gothfyth, " I shall know," O 1400 ; 
me a'n carvyth, " I will love him," D 1703; ef a'th 
carvyth, "he will love thee," D 1846; ny a'n guyl- 
■ fyth, " we shall see it," R 53, &c. &c. 

V. Tense. First person: — worto pan wqfymiyf 
(gofynnyf,) "of him when I ask," D 1855; bys 
may thyllyf, " until I enter," D 726 ; guel ha 
gyllyf, "the best that I can/' D 3012. 

Second person : — me a'th conjor may leverry, 
U I adjure thee that thou tell/' D 1323 ; gueyt 
may tanfenny, (danfenny), "take care that thou 
send/' E 1630. 

Third person : — pyu penagh a ten grysso 
(crysso), " whosoever shall faithfully believe/' E 
2466 ; a gutho (cutho) ol an nor beys, " which 
shall cover all the face of the earth/' 982 ; kettyl 
y'n geffo {keffo) a'n bay, " when he shall find him, 
he will kiss him/' D 986. 

I think I find this form used in the indicative : — my a's 
dyllo, "I will send her," O 1101. We have also 
doro as a future in D 147 1; but as we find doro in 
the imperative mood in O 1904, it may also be the 
First tense. It is possible that dyllo may be in the 
same case, but I have no evidence. 

First person plural : — mar Jcefyn den, " if we 
d 2 



52 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

find a man/' D 647 ; pan deffyn ny, " when we 
come/' R 773. 

These do not differ in form from the First tense, and we 
might be justified in looking upon the distinction of 
forms here as not going beyond the singular number. 
At the same time we have mar kyf, "if he finds," 
O 1 103; mar a's guel, "if he sees you," D 1003; 
and many other instances, where there is a different 
form for the two tenses. 

Second person plural : — del y'm Jcyrreugh, " as 
ye love me," 543 ; pan y'n guyllough, " when 
you shall see him/' R 19 12. 

Third person plural : — mar a } n Tzefons, " if they 
find him/' D 582 ; Jcyn teffons, " though they 
come/' R 392 ; may teffons omma, "that they 
come here," O 2408. 

It is not unfrequent to find the vowel a or e suf- 
fixed to a verb in the second person singular in an 
interrogative or subjunctive construction ; the fol- 
lowing examples shew the practice : — 

Interrogative, 
prag ytheta, why goest thou ? R 241. 
pendra wreta, what doest thou? D 1185, 2981. 
pendra vynta, what wilt thou? O 131 1. 
pie cleusta, where didst thou hear ? O 2642. 
pan a wrusta, what didst thou ? D 2007. 
a garsesta, wouldst thou love ? D 2838. 
a welte, seest thou ? D 2925. 
pendra ny vente, why wilt thou not ? D 1775* 
pefeste, where wast thou ? O 467. 
fattel thuthte, how didst thou come ? R 260. 
prag y tolste, why didst thou deceive ? O 302. 
a alsesta (galsesta), wouldst thou be able ? R 862. 

Subjunctive. 

mar ny wreta, if thou dost not, R 1088. 
na venta, that thou wilt not, D 1293. 
pan leverta, since thou sayest, D 2017. 



TEXSES. 53 

a'n guelesta, if thou shouldst see him, R 86 i. 

mar a cruste (gruste) leverel, if thou didst say, D 1759- 

aban golste, since thou hearkenedst, O 269. 

In a few cases we find similarly the vowel a 
after a verb in the first person, and then the vowel 
is preceded by m ; as, pendra ivrama, what shall I 
do, R, 679, D 856 ; ellas pan fema gynys, alas ! 
that I was born ! R, 2207 ; aban oma dasserghys, 
since I am risen, R 2436 ; hedre vyma ou pygy, 
whilst I am praying, D 1013. See 1. 1020. 

I compare this to the addition of a vowel in such 
expressions as ywe, ose, usy, wruge, &c., where 
some kind of contingency or uncertainty is implied. 
We must for this suppose that the final m, as found 
in Irish, and in the oldest Welsh glosses, for the first 
person singular, is restored, as well as the st for 
the second person of the preterite, in cleusta, feste, 
as in the Welsh ceraist. In the second person of 
the First tense the dental yet remains, though 
weakened to th d . 

§. 27. Imperative. Second person : — lavar, 

a I had supposed at first that ma and ta in these cases 
were the personal pronouns my and ty in an altered form ; 
hut the observation of an able philological friend has satisfied 
me that the explanation in the text is the true one. The 
grammatical value of the final vowel, when a verb follows 
certain conjunctions, such as pan or mar, is clear from the 
forms gruge and duthe instead of gruk and duth in O 423, 
D 524, and other passages. We are not bound to consider 
ta, in such words as venta and leverta, as necessarily ad- 
ditional to the verb ; I look at venta and leverta as equiva- 
lent to vennyth + a and leveryth + a rather than to venny + ta 
and levery + ta ; wrama, too, seems to be more probably 
wram + a than wraf+ ma. There does not appear to be any 
reason for changing my and ty to ma and ta, whereas the 
annexation of a or e to a verb in a phrase denoting contin- 
gency is in accordance with the usage of the language. 



54 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

"say/' D 965; treyl, "turn/' D 1155 ; saf, 
"stand," O65. 

Third person: — guereses, "let him help," O 
2781 ; gylwes, "let him call/' O 2774; guyskyns, 
"let him strike/' D 2766 ; tommans, "let him 
warm/' D 833. 

First person plural -.—fystynyn, " let us hasten/' 
D 645 ; leveryn, " let us say," R 806 ; guren, " let 
us do/' D 644. 

Second person plural : — levereugh, " say ye/' D 
it 09 ; gueresough, "help ye/' D 1143. 

Third person plural : — kelmyns, " let them tie/' 
I>583. 

§.28. Infinitive : — care, "to love," 1126, D 
511; leverel, " to say," D 1 759 ; dybry, " to eat," 
264; danfon, "to send," D 1615; Jceusel, "to 
speak," D 1276; Tcyrhas, "to fetch," 2371; 
myras, O 1399, myres, O 1412, "to see." 

Participle, active or present. Examples are nu- 
merous : the following are selected for the purpose 
of shewing the conversion of the sonant initial : — 
ou corthye (gorthye), "worshipping," 1616; ou 
cul (gid), " making," 1556 ; ow Jcehvel (gelwel), 
"calling," O 2430; oiv querthe (guerthe), "sell- 
ing," D 1520; ou tos (dos), "coming," O 1651; 
ou tysputye, " disputing," D 1628. It is more like 
a neuter participle in pan us gueyth ou tesehe, 
il when the trees are drying," O 11 28. 

Participle, passive or past : — kyrys, " loved," R 
892; lythys, "killed," R 903; offrijnnys, "offered," 
1327 ; gorrys, "placed," R430. 

§.29. Passives. First tense: — aban na gefyr 



TENSES. 55 

(kefyr) ken, " since no other is found/' 2503 ; 
pie kefyr dyn grous aval, " where may two other 
crosses be found," D 2576, compare py kefer 
pren, D 2535 ; del redyer in lyes le, " as it is read 
in many places," D 1168 ; mcfn gueller a ver ter- 
myn, " as will be seen in a short time," D 1940. 

When the auxiliary verb is passive, the passive 
sense is transferred to the principal verb : — 

mar ny wrer (gurer) y wythe, if he be not guarded, R 341. 
mar keller {geller) y wythe, if he can be kept, D 3058. 
ny yllyr (gyllyr) re the worthe, thou canst not be too much 
honoured, O 1852. 

Third tense : — Zeuss, in p. 525, makes a passive 
in as analogous to the old Welsh and Armoric at 
(now id. W. and ed, Arm.). His examples are — 
yn della y re thyskas, "thus they have been 
taught," P. 80. 3, and y torras (printed dorr as) 
an veyn, "the stones were broken," P. 209. 4. 
The old translators took this for the active third 
person, and rendered the phrases given by " as 
them others taught," and " they broke the stones ;" 
but an example from our book confirms the view of 
Zeuss : pan dongas queth an tempel, " when the 
vail of the temple was rent," D 3088 : we may 
perhaps cite also fethas yu cas, " the cause was 
gained," ft 579, and uthyk yw clewas y lef, " loud 
was heard his voice," ft 2340. 

I have found very few instances of a passive verb used 
in any other than the third person. In O 1 and D 
873, we have y'm gylwyr, " I am called;" and in O 
1924, may holler agas cuthe, "that you may be 
covered :" see also O 1852, quoted above. These 
are in accordance with Welsh ; but it is difficult to 
consider them precisely passives, because the pro- 
noun, which ought to be the subject of the verb if 
passive, is in the state especially employed when it is 
the object. The view of Legonidec, the Breton gram- 



56 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

marian, who calls these verbs Impersonate, and ren- 
ders them by the pronoun on, as on m'appelle, appears 
the most suitable. 

Fourth tense : — ha re-na galser the rey, " and 
those might have been given," D 53 J. 



It may be as well to give a complete paradigm 
here, and the verb selected is care, "to love.'" 
The most regular forms are set down, but others 
will be found in the manuscript. 

First tense : — c I love" 1 or ' shall love.' 

car of, keryth, car : keryn, carough, carons. 

Second tense: — C I was loving' or ' would love' 
or ' should love.' 
caren, cares, care or cara : caren, careugh, 
carens. 

Third tense : — ' I loved.' 
Jcerys, kersys, caras : kersyn, carsough, carsons 
or carsans. 

Fourth tense: — f I had loved' or 'would have 
loved.'' 
carsen, carses, corse : carsen, carseugh, carsens. 

Fifth tense :— ' If I love/ 

kyryf, kyry, caro : kyryn, kyreugh, carons. 

Imperative : — ' Love thou.'' 
car, cares or carens : caren, careugh, carens. 
Infinitive : — care, " to love." 
Participles : — ou care, "loving ;" kyrys, " loved." 
Passive, present and future : — carer, keryr, 
" is," or " shall be loved." 

Conditional : — carser, " would be loved." 
Past : — caras, " was loved." 



VERBS. 57 

As a general rule, whenever a question is asked, 
where there is not some interrogative pronoun or 
adverb, the letter a is put at the beginning ; as, 
a ny vxjnta obeye, " wilt thou not obey V 1505. 
Sometimes a is added when there is already an 
interrogative particle, probably to fill up the metre ; 
as, a pyth yu an keth den-na, " what is that same 
God ?" 1485. 

A negative is indicated by placing ny 2 or na 2 
before a verb ; as, 

ny thue arte, it will not come again, O 1102. 
na allaf sparie, that I cannot spare, O 946. 
na wrello, that it may not do, O 1092. 

Na is usually employed with imperatives and sub- 
junctives. 



§. 30. Impersonal Conjugation. 

The Impersonal conjugation is generally em- 
ployed when the nominative case precedes the 
verb directly, more especially when the nomina- 
tive is a personal pronoun ; the subject is generally 
followed by the particle a, and the initial of the 
verb takes the second form ; the verb is always in 
the third person singular. This conjugation is so 
simple that it will be required merely to give a few 
examples of each case, to enable a student to under- 
stand it fully : — 

me a lever, I say, R 106 1. 

me a sorras, I was angry, D 142 1. 

me a vynse (mynse), I would wish, D 211. 

me re behas (pehas), I have sinned, O 249. 

ty a wor (ffor), thou wilt know, R 256. 

ty a tew, thou wilt be silent, R 984. 

ty a'n nahas, thou deniedst him, R 135 1. 

ty ru'm tullas, thou hast deceived me, O 252. 

ty a'n guelse, thou wouldst have seen him, R 1382. 

»3 



58 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

ef re gollas, he has lost, O 420. 

ny a bys (pys), we pray, O 1072. 

ny a dryy (tryg), we will remain, O 21 12. 

ny a gafas (cafas), we found, R 1474. 

ny <fn recevas, we received him, R 2339. 

ny a geusys {keusys), we spoke, R 1373. 

why a gyf (kyf), you will find, D 176. 

y a nyg, they fly, O 1068. 

y afyth (byth), they are, R 1477. 

§.31. Compound Conjugation. 

The Compound conjugation is made by putting 
the auxiliary verb "to do" before the infinitive 
mood, as "I do love/' "he does know/ 1 &c. in 
English. Sometimes the comes between the auxili- 
ary and the infinitive. As this verb is irregular it 
is necessary to give the paradigm : — 

TO DO. 

Infinitive : — 
gruthyl, D 198, O1004; guthyl, O1952; guthul, R 
2252 ; or, gul, O 1174. 

First tense : — 

guraf, I do, O 1988. guren, we do, O 1146. 

gureth, thou dost, R 459. gureugh, ye do, O 912. 
gura, he does, 1376. gurons, they do, D 2775. 

We have guregh, D 814, for gureugh. 

Second tense : — 

gurellyn, I was doing, or, I would do, O 445. 

' 445 L t \ l0VL wert do}™ or wouldst do. 
gures, R451 ■> 
gure, R 6, D 1309 



gurefe, D 13 16 I 



gurella, D 1958 f he was doin S or would do ' 

gureva, D 2882 J 

gurellen we were doing or would do, O 183. 

gurelleugh, ye were doing. 

gurellens, they were doing. 



VERBS. 59 

Third tense : — 

gurys (?) I did. 

grussys, thou didst, O 222. 

gruk, he did, R 158. 

grussyn, we did. 

grussough, R 40 1 ,., 
,' Y ye did. 

grussyugh, O 2792 J J 

grussons, they did, O 337. 

When a conjunction comes before the third person 
singular, the form of the verb is generally gruge, 
a true subjunctive ; as, pan wruge, O 423, 2250, 
D913. 

Fourth tense : — 

grussen, I would have done, O 163. 
grusses, thou wouldst have done, O 156. 
grusse, he would have done, O 152. 
grussyn, we would have done, R 2624. 
grusseugh, ye would have done. 
grussens, they would have done. 

Fifth tense : — 
guryllyf, that I may do, O 531. 
gurylly, that thou mayst do, O 1784. 
gurello, that he may do, R 498. 
gurellen, that we may do, O 1048. 
gurylleugh, that ye may do, D 811. 
grons, that they may do, O 2034. 

Imperative mood : — 

guren, let us do, O 11 70. 

gura, do thou, D 1957. greugh, do ye, R 2232. 

gurens, O 1093, -1 , , . , 

n „ Met him do. gurens, let them do. 
grens, D 371, J y ' 

Participle active : — 
ou cul, doing, O 1556. 

Participle passive : — 
gurys, O 431, gures, done, O 988. 

Passive : — 
gurer, it is done, 1936, R341. 



60 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

Note that gu in this verb is equivalent to g only : it 
does not make an additional syllable, and its muta- 
tions are those of g .• we have thus russe, O 152, 
and wrussen, O 163. 

The following example will suffice to shew the 
manner of using this conjugation : — 

First tense : — 

daggrow tyn guraf dyvere, bitter tears I shall shed, O 402. 

an guel guraf the drehy, the rods I will cut, O 1988. 

pan wretk agan dysky, when thou dost teach us, D 36. 

an gorhel guren dyscuthy, the ark we will uncover, 1146. 

ny wreugh why tryge, ye shall not remain, O 317. 

y wrons clamdere, they will faint, O 400. 

Impersonal : — 

y cuthe me a wra, cover him I will, D 1376. 
my a ray dybry, I will eat it, O 248. 
hy a wra aspye, she will look, O 1115. 
the verkye my a gura, mark thee I will, O 602. 
ef a wra dynythy, he shall produce, O 638. 
aga gora ty a wra, put them thou shalt, O 991. 
goef a ra the serry, unhappy he who angers thee, O 1016. 

This is the most ordinary way of making the future 
tense, in Cornish. 

Second tense : — 
leverel gura na wrella dampnye, do say that he condemn 

not, D 1958. 
na wrellen dybbry, that we should not eat, O 183. 
an temple y wre terry, the temple he would destroy, D 1309. 
y wrefe y threhevel, he would rebuild it, D 1316. 

The conditional is generally made by this tense. 

Third tense : — 

pan wrussys cole, that thou didst hearken, O 222. 
an sarf re ruk ow tholle, the serpent hath deceived me, 
O286. 

Imperative : — 
gura ou gorthyby, answer me, O 301. 



VERBS. 61 

agan cuthe guren, let us cover ourselves, O 254. 
greugh y tenne mes a'n dour, draw him out of the water, 
R 2232. 

Infinitive : — 

dre wul trogh, through breaking, O 298. 



§.32. Passive Verb, made by the Verb substantive. 

It is much more usual to make up the passive 
verb by the verb substantive, as is done in most of 
the modern languages of Europe, than to use the 
passive inflection as explained in p. 45. For this 
purpose the paradigm of the verb substantive is re- 
quired: — 

Verb substantive. 

The verb substantive in Cornish, as in other 
Indo-Germanic languages, has two roots ; one of 
these appears to have been the letter s, and the 
other was the consonant b, interchanging with f 
and w. Examples of the first in Latin and English 
are sum, es, est, and am, art, is; of the second, 
fui, fore, and be, was. The Cornish, in some of its 
forms, has lost the initial s, but it regains the sibi- 
lant after mar, nyn, and some other words. 

First division. 
Present tense : — 

of, I am, O 2049. on, we are, O 2024. 

os, thou art, R 1822. ough, you are, R 196". 

yu, he is, R 389. yns, O 1691, i 

^D2353>i theyare ' 

The third person singular is varied to yw, D 2952 ; eu, 
O 2214; ew, O 2572. All receive occasionally an ad- 
dition at the beginning, becoming assof, yssof, ythof, 
esof, sof, thof, &c. ; in the first three forms I see no 
difference in signification, and the additions in such 
cases are, I think, only variations of the verbal particles 



62 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

a and y. Examples are, asson whansek, " we are de- 
sirous," D 37 ; huhel ythos ysethys, " high thou art 
seated," D 93 ; yn ou colon asyw bern, " in my heart 
is sorrow," D 2932 ; yssyw hemma trueth bras, " this 
is great sorrow," D3182. I now believe that esof, 
esos, &c. are merely variations of these, though I have 
rendered them usually by the past tense : see D 931, 
2511, R 1291. Sof, sos, syu, and thof, thos, thyu, &c. 
follow certain particles, as mar, nyn, Sec. 
There are some other forms for the present tense ; ma, 
"is," scarcely differs from yu: see O 1316,2561, 
2633, R 2059. Us is like ma, but often implies 'who :' 
O 628, 1059, D 1410, 1425, R2060; perhaps eus of 
R316 may be the same word. "We have usy in O 
2692. Yma signifies 'there is,' O 410, 526, 775, 
R 400, 1216; mons, O 2091, and ymons, O 1687, 
2084, are the plurals of ma and yma. 

Imperfect tense : — 

esen, I was, O 213. esen, we were, R 1169, 2395. 

eses, thou wast, O 900. esough, ye were, D 332, R 2434. 

ese, he was, O 1089. ens, they were, D 2681, 2694 a . 

Preterite tense : — 

0, "he was," O 706, 809, R1096, 2007. 
The forms oma, " I am," D 755 ; osa, D 1324, ose, D 
1290, oge, O 1767, "thou art;" ywe, O 1822, vgy, 
R 1636, " he is j" and I think, ony, " we are," O 59 ; 
all these are either interrogative, or else they imply 
contingencies such as belong to the subjunctive 
mood. 

Second division, 
bones, 2299, bos, D 2494, "to be." 

First tense : — 
bythaf, D 1932 



7i:Z'n 93 1 I shall be. 
bethaf, O 2111 J BU4U wc * 



a I believe the real paradigm of the Present tense would 
be of, os, yu : on, ongh, yns ; and of the Imperfect, en, es, e .- 
en, eugh, ens; but both tenses affected rather to lengthen 



VERBS. 63 

bethyth Oi 4 6 5 | thoushaltbe . 

bythyth, O 1510 J 

byth, he shall he, D 772. 

bethyn, we shall be, 1655. 

bytJieugh, you shall be, D 767. 

bethens, O 2307 \ 

, ., t. > they shall be. 

bythons, D 3093 J J 

As there is a present tense in the first division, this 
tense is always, I think, future. 

Second tense : — 

bef, I should be, &c, O 2193. 
bes, thou shouldst be, R 2442. 
bethe, O 232 ■» 
bythe, Di 94 8 } ^ should be. 
ben, we should be, R 2423. 
beugh,, ye should be, D 5, 28. 
bens, they should be, D 852. 

The forms as well as the signification of this tense are 
confounded with those of the Fifth tense, and even of 
the Fourth. I cannot satisfy myself with any division 
of them. 

Third tense : — 

buf, buef, I was, R 1540, 2150. 

bus, thou wast, D 1999. 

hue, O 880, R 1443 1 , 

7 ^ t n r he was. 

be, O2657, D 1x54 J 

buen, we were, O 709, R 1823. 

beugh, bugh, you were, R 192, 2243. 

bons, they were, D 521. 

Fourth tense : — 

by en, I should be, O 2120, R 1942. 
byes, thou shouldst be, D 2683. 
bye, he should be, D 846, 1592. 
byen, we should be, 

their forms in actual use. In a similar way the Greeks added 
a syllable to the shorter forms of their verb substantive, 
writing elada and rjcrBa for els and rjs. Perhaps the Latin 
esto and estote originated in a like principle. 



64 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

byeugh, ye should be, O 177. 
byens, they should be. 

The forms gyfye, "would take," R966, and thothye, 

"will" or "would go," R 2450, seem to be imitations 

of this tense. 

Fifth tense : — 

byf, beyf, I may or shall be, D 847, 2008. 

by, thou mayst be, O 245, 2203. 

bo, O 42, R 90 -1 

be, 0396,1112 }te may or shall be. 

ben, been, beyn, we may be, D 41, O 1973, 2699. 

beugh, you may be, D 627. 

bons, they may be, D 844, 899, 1546. 

The same observation as is made above at the close of 
the first division will apply here, in regard to the 
forms byma, D 1013, befe, O 2220, befa, D 905, beva, 
D 690, bova, D 620, buve, O 864, bythe, O 1327, byse, 
D 2908 ; and some others. Perhaps such additions 
are sometimes made merely to fill up a verse, as in 
bosa for bos, D 11 20. 

Imperative : — 

byth, be thou, O 1341, 2616. 

bethens, D 2374 

bythens, D 794 

bethon, let us be, 

bethough, be ye, D 879. 

bethens, let them be, 

Throughout the second division of this verb I have 
made the initial b ; but it occurs in the manuscript 
much more frequently written with auor/ from the 
influence of particles requiring a mutation, and fre- 
quently where I see no reason for such change ; unless 
it be that a particle is implied though not expressed, 
as it is, I believe, the case in Welsh. 

Examples of the passive verb made by help of 
the verb substantive : — 

a'n nef of danfenys, from heaven I am sent, O 1372. 

yth os ysethys, thou art seated, D 93. 

yu gorhemmynnys thy'n, it is commanded to us, O 1049. 



f let him be. 



VERBS. 65 

buthys on ny, we are drowned, O 1705. 

yns plynsys, they are planted, O 2092. 

bethaf lethys, I shall be killed, O 596. 

ny fythyth sylwys, thou shalt not be saved, O 15 10. 

y fethons gorrys, they shall be put, O 342. 

guynys may fuef, where I was pierced, R 1540. 

helhys warbarth afuen, we were driven together, O 709. 

y fyen lethys, I should be killed, O 2120. 

may fen guythys, that we may be preserved, D 41. 

bos desesys, to be hurl, D 97. 

bos rewardyys, to be rewarded, O 2201. 

§.33. A reflected verb is made, as in Welsh, by 
prefixing the syllable ym" 2 (em, om). The equiva- 
lent in Armoric is en em. 

Examples are frequent : — ymwanas, " he stabbed 
himself," R 2065, from the root guan; emwyskys, 
"he smote himself," II 2067, root guasJc ; ym den, 
"withdraw," O1377, root ten; ny y lions ymwe- 
res, " cannot help themselves," 1420, root gue- 
res ; mar ny wreth ymamendye, "if thou do not 
amend thyself," O 1526. Embloth, in O 1661, 
meaning " to fight," is probably from the verb 
lathe, "to kill," something like the French se bat- 
tre ; though we have emlathe y honan, "to kill 
himself," in R 2073, where the writer perhaps 
added the pronoun y honan to avoid the ambiguity 
which might arise from the use of emlathe, mean- 
ing " to fight ;" as a Frenchman might say, il s'est 
battu lui-meme, meaning " he has beaten himself," 
while he would say, il s'est battu, when he wished 
to be understood, " he fought," . 



CORNISH GRAMMAR. 



§. 34. IRREGULAR VERBS. 

There are in Cornish some verbs irregular, which 
are generally irregular in Welsh and Armoric also. 
In going through the translation, I have jotted 
down a good many words which were at the time 
doubtful, and out of them I have been able to form 
the following incomplete paradigms : they might 
perhaps be completed by Welsh and Breton ana- 
logy, and no doubt several additional forms may 
be found, if the Cornish books be read through for 
the purpose ; but I had no intention of venturing 
on a Grammar when the work was begun, and have 
not been able to supply the deficiencies since. I 
have consequently only incomplete results to offer ; 
but in the case of every word set down, one pass- 
age at least is cited in which it occurs. 

TO GIVE. 

Ry, O 1801, 2606; rey, D 537. 

First tense : — 

rof, I give, R857. ren, (we give) D 2406. 

reth, O 1814 1 , 

reyth, D 41 2 > *ou givest. 

re, R387, 674 

5770 

Second tense : — 
ren, I would give (?) O 2739. 

Third tense : — 

res, D 2495 -i j 

rys, O 320 J gave * 

ryssys, thou gavest, D 522. 

ros, he gave, D 1384, R 165. rosons, they gave, R 2601. 



.,02770} he s ives - 



IRREGULAR VERBS. 67 



Fifth tense :— 
rollo, that he may give, O 1823. 
rollons, that they may give, O 40. 

Imperative : — 
ro, give thou, O 2010, R 83. 
roy, let him give, O 680, D 712. 
ren, let us give, D 1389. 
reugh, give ye, D 1362. 

Participle present : — 
ou ry, giving, O 2316. 

Participle past : — 
reys, given, D 1574. 



TO BRING. 

Dry, D 16, 273, 596. 

First tense : — 
drow, D3121 \ . 

doro, D1471 } Ibrin g- 

Second tense : — 
dregha, he would bring, R 403. 

Third tense : — 
dros, he brought, O 1 1 1 . 

Fourth tense : — 
drosen, we would have brought, D 1976. 

Imperative : — 

dro, O 1947 i , . 
, ~ ^ bring thou, 

aoro, (J 1904 J ° 

drens, let him bring, O 1933. 

dreugh, bring ye, O 1066, D 2329. 

Participle past : — 
dreys, brought, D 2447, R 2328. 



68 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

TO COME. 

Bones, O 791 ; dos, R 570. 

First tense : — 

dueth, R 1 178 "I ,, 
7 , x, ™ r thou comest. 
duth, R 882 J 

due, it comes, D 2961, R 2273. 

desons, they come, D 1247. 

Second tense : — 
dogha, that it may come, D 2912. 

Third tense : — 

duytk, D 2022 1 T 
,'_,,, M came. 
dueyth, R 1661 J 

duthys R 2568 I thoucamest< 

awes, O 155 J 

etoA, R 2587 "I , 
, , -r. r he came, 

dwe^, R 234 J 

dutheugh, ye came, R 193. 

We have aban duthe, " since I came," D 517, 524, a 
subjunctive mood, as in gruge : see the verb gruthyl 
in p. 59. 

Imperative : — 

dus, O 2779 -1 , 

7 r. o r come thou. 
dues, R 308 J 

<?mw, let us come, R2305. 

deugh, come ye, R 156, 1761. 

Participle : — 
des, come, D 352. 



TO GO. 

Mones, O 2030, D 232 ; mos, O 1603. 
First tense : — 
af, I go, O 339. 



IRREGULAR VERBS. 69 



etk, thou goest, O 2295, R 851. 

a, he goes, R2197. 

en, we go, D 2997, R 2391. 

^yh ye go, O2185. 

Generally, ythaf, ytheth, &c. 

Second tense : — 

een, O 364 1 

ellen, 2i 93 } I should go. 

Third tense : — 
yth, I went, O 260, D 145. 
etheugh, ye went, O 2086. 

Fifth tense :— 
ello, (when) he shall go, R 1563. 

Imperative : — 
he, go thou, D 649. 
eugh, go ye, R 179. 
ens, let them go, D 173, R 2644. 



TO BEAR or CARRY. 

Don, D 2584, R 1226, 1241 ; degy, D 2313. 

First tense : — 
deh, R 2235, deg, O 903, 2814, he shall carry. 

Third tense : — 
dug, O 268, duk, O 2244, R 2554, he carried. 

Fifth tense :— 
dogo, that he may carry, R 2189. 

Imperative : — 
dole, D 1272, 2616 -1 
dog, O 1945, 2200 V carry thou. 
doga, O 1298 ■» 

degyns, let him carry, O 32, 1052, 159 1. 
degeugh, carry ye, O 2810, R 2184. 



70 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

Participle present : — 
ou toon, O 2820 ■) 
ou ton, 8 9 2 } ca "W 

Past :— 
degys, carried, O 1315. 



TO KNOW. 



gothfos, R468; gothfes, R 195; gothvos, O 2098; govos, 
O 2102. 

Present tense :— 

gon, I know, R 1547. 
gor, he knows, R 256. 
gothough, ye know, R 2445. 
gothons, they know, D 2774. 

Future tense : — • 
gothfythy, thou shalt know, R 2381, 

^%^D8 49 y heshallkn0Wi 

govyth, O 188 J 

gothfetheugh, ye shall know, R 1574. 

These tenses are separated as in Welsh, where we have 
gwn, givr,as a present tense, and gwybydd,givybyddwch, 
as a future. They are analogous to the two divisions 
of the verb substantive. 

Second tense : — 
gothen, I did know, O 363. 
gothes, D8 4 8 l thou didst know , 
gothas, D 2181 J 
guythen, we did know, D 19 14. 

Fourth tense : — 

gothfen, (if) we had known, R 2542. 
gotlifons, (if) they had known, D 2776. 

Fifth tense :— 

gothefaf, (if) I know, (?) R 719. 
gotlifo, (if) he know, O 190. 



IRREGULAR VERBS. 71 

In re woffe, " may he know/ 1 530, we have the 
fifth, or second tense, converted into an imperative 
or optative by the verbal particle re. See p. 49. 
Woffe is= gothfe. 



TO HAVE. 



There is no verb in the Celtic language gene- 
rally corresponding with the verb " to have ;" in 
Cornish as in Welsh, the deficiency is sometimes 
supplied by cafiis, " to take or find ;" but the 
more usual substitute is like the Latin est pro 
habeo. We find thus yma thijmmo {est mihi), " I 
have," D 494; mar a'm be (si mihifuerit), "if I 
have," O 396 ; na'm byth cres (non mihi est pax), 
" I have no peace," R1133. In most cases the 
verb is in the form fyth, the first tense of bos, as in 
my a fyth, ty a fyth, D 128, " I shall have, thou 
shalt have," &c. The Rev. R. Williams suggests 
that this may be " I possess," &c. from a root meth, 
the Welsh meddu ; and this would be probable, the 
mutation of m and b being equally for v ; but the 
explanation will not suffice for the cases where the 
form is byth. I am inclined to think that the root 
is always bos ; — that frequently the pronoun in the 
third form (§. 16. p. 27) was added to that in the 
first form, as in why a's byth (vos vobis erit), "you 
shall have," 2586, D 3075, R 612, 672, ny'm 
bes (=ny'm byth, non mihi est), "I have not," 
O t 7 1 ; — and that the sentiment of the real value of 
the word was sometimes lost, so that ambyth and 
asbyth were used like new verbs, as in why asbe- 
theyth, " you shall have," D 33, and ny ambyth, "we 
shall have," O 1714. I suppose ny'm bus, R 1517, 
2210, "I have not," to be a variant spelling of 



72 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

ny'm byth; — na'm bes, 1 884, to be the same, with 
a change of the negative ; — and a'mbues, D 2392, 
to be a'mbyth (mihi est); — as bues, D 1970, and 
agas bus, R 2154., "you have/' will be a's byth. 
Am been, "which I have," 2613, and ma'm 
vethen, "that I may have," 1958, are doubtful; 
my a'n byth, " I will have it," D 1 187, may be read 
vyth, from meth, to possess •" the v and b are very 
much alike in the Manuscript. I cannot explain ny 
gen by en ny, "we should not have," of R 1029, 
except by reading bye for by en. A bew of D 2853, 
and a's pew, D 2855, 2858, are probably cognate 
with the Welsh piau, " to own ;" as also ty a bew, 
" thou shalt have," 974, which I have translated 
incorrectly. A bywfy, " which thou possessest," 

581, and a bewe, "which he possessed," 
2393, are probably from the same verb. " 

Another substitute for the verb "to have" is 
found in ny's teve, 2597, D 508, na's teve, 
D 2647, ny's tevyth, 300, 399, 1808, 18 16, 
a's tefo, D 788, a's tevyt, O 2328. In all these 

1 think the root is tefov tev, ( to grow' or 'come/ 
with the pronoun " her" or " them ;" and that 
if the meaning were " he shall have," instead of 
"she or they shall have," we should find a'n te- 
fyth; but this does not occur. In my note to 

O 2597, vol. I. p. 197, the conjecture about ceve 
appears wrong, and the version is far from literal : 
tus, meaning "men," is always considered gram- 
matically as a feminine singular, and s of ny's 
agrees with it ; I should therefore have rendered, 
"not have come to any man." The curious de- 
fective Armoric verb devout, " to have," is clearly 
analogous to that under consideration, and its forms 
defe and deus or devezo, are related to teve and 
tevyth. See Legonidec's Grammar, p. 82. 



ADVERBS. 73 

ADVERBS, PREPOSITIONS, and CON- 
JUNCTIONS. 

The following list of Adverbs, Prepositions, and 
Conjunctions is incomplete, but it is hoped that it 
will be found useful ; phrases from the Ordinalia, 
exemplifying the use of each particle, are added in 
every case. 

§. 35. ADVERBS. 
coul, cowed, quite. 

marroiv cowal ty a vyth, killed quite thou shalt be, O 2702. 
bones an temple coul wrys, the temple to be quite done, 
O 2581. 

kepar, " like, as," takes ha with a substantive, and 
del with a verb. 

kepar ha kuen, like dogs, R 172. 
kepar ha deu, like a god, O 290. 
kepar ha my, like me, O 2350. 
kepar del ve, as it was, O 872. 
kepar del vynny, as thou wilt, O 1046. 

But we find 
kepar hag on, as we are, O 894. 
kepar ha me a welas, as I saw, R 1076. 

and in one case, 
kepar ha del leverys, as I said, D 2690. 

fatteP, fatel, fettel, fettyl, how. 

fattel duthys yn ban, how didst thou come up ? R 2568. 
ny won fatel yl wharfos, I know not how it can be, R 229. 
fettel allaf vy cryyy, how can I believe ? R 1423. 
prederys peb fettyl alio yorfenne, let all think how it can 
end, O 228. 

prak, prag, pragh, why. 

prak y wreta thymmo amme, why dost thou kiss me ? 

D1105. 
prak y's guy sky th, why dost thou wear it ? R 2549. 



74 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

pragh yth hembrenkygh, why do ye lead ? D 204. 
prag yth yu the thyllas ruth, why are thy garments red ? 
R 2567! 

maga 71 , maga / as. 

maga whyn (guyn) avel an leth, as white as the milk, 

D 3138. 
maga tek bythqueth delfue, as fair as ever he was, R 1659. 
maga ta, "as well," is used in the sense of "also," 
as in English : — 
den ha best magata, man and beast also, O 995. 
ha war the treys magata, and on thy feet also, D 488. 

namna, almost. 

namnag of pur thai, I am almost quite blind, 0. 1056. 
namna'n dallas, almost blinded us, R 42. 

ken, else. 

ken ef a ivra ou shyndye, else he will spit at me, O 2133. 

bo ken deaul yw, or else he is a devil, R 2104. 

When the sentence is negative, we find nahen {na ken), 
although the negation be otherwise expressed ; as 
nahen na grys, think not otherwise, R 2038. See 
also R1126. 

ot, ota, otte, wetta, welte, see, behold. 

ot omnia meneth huhel, see here a high mountain, D 125. 

ot omme an guas, see here the fellow, R 1803. 

ota saw bos, see the load of food, O 1053. 

otte the vam, behold thy mother, D 2928. 

ow ottoma 9 -, see with me (?) R 2177. 

a wetta ny, dost thou see us ? D 2050. 

a welte thefiogh, seest thou thy son ? D 2925. 

The occurrence of these last forms shews the derivation 
from the verb. 

yn weth, pi weytli, also. 

ha nefyn weth, and heaven also, D 290. 
map deu os ha den yn iveyth, son of God thou art and man 
likewise, D 278. 

a See the note to O 882, in p. 207 of the Ordinalia, vol. II. 



ADVERBS. 75 

'testa, perhaps. 
yn ur-na martesen, in that hour perhaps, D 2870. 

See the note to this passage in p. 213, vol. II. Ordinalia. 

bytegyns, bytygyns, nevertheless. 

saw bytygyns cresough why, but nevertheless believe ye, 

R 1300. 
saw bytegyns ragon ny, but nevertheless for us, R 980. 

See also R 1016. 

re-, too much. 

thotho byny vye re, for him never would it be too much, 

R 2056. 
re hyr, too long, O 2548. 
re got (cot), too short, O 2549. 

moghya, moghye, moghe, most. 

neb may fe moghya geffys, he who is forgiven most, D 513. 
See D 510, 514. 

ketella, kettella, so. 

nep a rella yn ketella, whoever has done so, O 2240. 
yn kettella ny a vyn, so we will, D 243. 

mar-, so. 

mar tha (da), so good, O 912. 

mar ger (ker), so dear, O 612. 

pe feste mar bel (pel), where hast thou been so long, 
477- 
pur 12 , very. 

pur tha (da), very good, O 2572. 
pur thai (dal), very blind, O 1056. 
pur wyr (guyr), very true, R 1004. 

bras, very, used after the adjective. 

del yu ef gallosek bras, as he is very powerful, O 1494. 
the colon yw cales bras, thy heart is very hard, O 152^. 

fest, very, also after the adjective. 

wolcumfest, very welcome, D 1207. 

yeynfest yu an awel, very cold is the weather, D 1209. 



TO CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

Adverbs of place. 

omma, omme, umma, here. 

fatel thutheugh why omma, how did ye come here, R 193. 
ot omme an guas, see here the fellow, R 1803. 
Adam ottensy umma, Adam, behold her here, O 102. 

ena, eno, there. 

ena yn dour, there in the water, R 2196. 

eno ny a'n recevas, there we received him, R 2339. 

pie (—jm le), where. 

ny won pie fe, I know not where it may be, O 11 12. 
pie me, where is it ? R 46. 

a ves, outside. 
agy, inside. 
aves hag agy, without and within, O 953. 

Mes (ves}, the Welsh tnaes, forms also the following ad- 
verbs 5 — 
the ves, away. 
yn mes, out. 

gallas an glaw the ves, the rain is gone away, O 1097. 
da yu yn mes dyllo bran, it is good to send out a crow, 
O 1099. 

alena, alene, thence. 
alemma, hence. 

These adverbs are really phrases meaning *' from that 
place," and " from this place," and I have often so 
divided them, though they are not distinguished in 
that way in the Manuscript. See R 2138, D 649, 
O 1945. 

aher, aberth, aberveth, berth, within. 

(h'y worre aber yn beth, to put him within the grave 

R2108. 
aberth yn beyth, within the grave, R 2083. 
dun aberveth, let us come inside, O 1062. 
berth yn bys-ma, within this world, R 860. 



ADVERBS. 77 

adro, around. 

tm inj vyfh yn pow adro, there is not a thing in the 

country round, O 189. 
a'n beis ol adro, of the world all around, O 404. 

adrus, adrues, athwart, across, against. 

adrus musury, measure athwart, O 393. 

tresters ty a pyn adrus, heams thou shalt nail across, 

O964. 
kyn whrylly cous adrues, though thou do speak against it. 

R1792. 

a hys, a heys, along. 

groweth a hys, lie at length, O 653. 
groiveth a heys, lie along, O 1334. 

oges, near. 

na mos oges the'n wethen, nor go near to the tree, O 184. 
na nyl oges nag yn pel, not one near nor at a distance, 
01141. 

pel, far. 

yma moyses pel gyllys, Moses is far gone, O 1682. 

a rag, in front. 

war an brest a rag, on the brsast in front, O 2717. 

yn rag, forward, forth. 

deugh yn rag ketep onan, come forward every one, O 2683. 
dus yn rag, come forth, O 2403. 

yn kergh, on, away. 

ke yn kergh dywhans, go away quickly, R 116. 

a'n beth yn kergh gyllys, gone away from the tomb, R 809. 

yn ban, up. 

bynytha na thue yn ban, he will never come up, R 2139. 
Adam safyn ban, Adam, stand up, O 65. 



78 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 



Adverbs of time, 
ytho, now, then. 

ythopyth yu the cusyl, now what is thy advice ? R 25. 

ytho thy'm lavar, now tell me, R 787. 

ytho ihy'nny yth hevel, then to us it appears, D 1489. 

This appears to he rather the conjunction equivalent to 
the French or, than the true adverb of time : as in the 
Scripture phrase, " Now it came to pass." I am not 
quite sure that this is not the case often with the fol- 
lowing also. 

lemyn, lemmyn, lemmaa, now. 

lemmyn a abesteleth, now, O apostles ! R 893. 

lemyn sur yth yu eun hys, now, surely it is the right 

length, O 2525. 
lemyn ef yu agan guas, now he is our fellow, O 910. 
lemman warbarth ow fleghys, now together, my children, 

D 307. 

yn tor-ma, in this time, now. 

na vo marow yn tor-ma, that he be not killed now, D 2446. 

agensow, agynsow, lately,, just now. 

me a'n guelas agynsoio, I saw him recently, R 896, 
agensow my a'n guelas, I saw him recently, R 9 1 1 . 

avar, early. 

dewethes, late. 

ha dewethes hag avar, both late and early, O 629* 
ha deug avar> and come early, D 3239. 

bynary, benary, for ever. 

yn ponvotter venary, in trouble for ever, O 898. 

ny'th ty nahaf bynary, I will not deny thee ever, D 907. 

bynytha, never more. 

bynytha ny thue yn ban, never will he come up, R 2T39. 
my ny vennaf groivethe bynytha, I will never more lie 
down, O 625. 



ADVERBS. 79 

nefre, neffre, ever. 

nefre yfyth avey, ever shall be enmity, O 314. 

nefre thy so re bo, ever be it on thee, O 461. 

the gons a href neffre, thy speech proves ever, D 1408. 

avorow, to-morrow. 

gueytyeugh bones avorow, take care to be to-morrow, 

O 2299. 
deug avar avorov:, come early to-morrow, D 3240. 

hytheu, hythew, to-day. 

na moy cous thy'm hythew, no more talk to me to-day, 

R1940. 
wheth bys hythew, yet till to-day, R 1550. 

atliesempys, dy-ssempys, &c, immediately. 

athysernpys thu'm tage, immediately to choak me, D 15 28. 

toth, toutli, haste. 

This word appears to be a noun, used in combination 
adverbially. 
ow treyle thotho touth da, turning from him speedily, 

(i. e. good haste) D 558. 
heeth ou bool touth ta, reach my axe quickly, O 1001. 
tho'm gurek ha'm fiehes totta, to my wife and children 

speedily, O 1036. (Totta = toth ta.) 
cowyth dun toth da, companion, let us come quickly, 
D643. 

In D 660 we have gans touth bras, " with great haste," 
shewing that the word is a substantive; and in D 662 
toth men, of the same meaning, but which I do not 
understand. 

kettoth, ketoth, as soon as. 

kettoth an ger, as soon as the word, O 190S. 
kettoth ha'n ger, as soon as the word, R 1970. 
ketoth ha'n ger, as soon as the word, O 2272. 

arte, again. 

gorryn efyn beth arte, let us put him into the grave again, 

R 2100. 
ny'm guelyth arte, thou shalt not see me again, O 244. 



80 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

solatliyth, solabrys, some time ago. 

I find this compound adverb half a dozen times ; the 
root is clearly sol, and the addition is prys, " time," 
or dyth, " day." See solabrys, O 2322 ; solabreys, 
O 2747; sollabreys,D 746; solathyth,0 2612; sola- 
theth, R 1929, and sollathyth, R 2380. 

kyns, before. 

teke ages kyns y van, fairer than it stood before, D 348. 

y fue kyns y vos gurys, there were, before it was done, 
D35o. 
warier gh, afterwards. 

sau me warlergh drehevel, but I, risen afterwards, D 896. 

whare, wharre, soon. 

ha whare a, and will soon go, O 642. 

may tewe an tan wharre, that the fire may light soon, D 1 2 2 1 . 

yn makes an adverb of a substantive or adjective ; 
sometimes it is yn' 1 , sometimes yn°, and sometimes 
no change is made. 
yn sur, surely, R 529. 
yn teffry, really, R 565. 
ynpur deffry, very really, D 300. 
yn tyen, entirely, O 2589. 
yn guyr, truly, O 254 1 . 
yn len, faithfully, O 2608. 
yn ta, well, O 2523. 

the ierusalem ynfen, to Jerusalem quite, O 1948. 
ynfen guren ny, quite let us do, R 1242. 

[yn fen = to the end.] 
ynfelen, as a felon, O 2653. 
yn kettep guas, every fellow, D 1350. 



§. 36. PREPOSITIONS. 
a?, of or from. (See §. 17, p. 31.) 

luen a byte (pyte), full of pity, O 2369. 

a pup squythens y sawye, from all weariness cure him, 

D477- 

ierrys ol a'y le, broken all from its place, D 356. 



PREPOSITIONS. SI 

adre, adres, adro, around. 
adres pow, around the country, R 1477. 
adre thethe, around them, O 2097. 
adro thotho, around it, O 2101. 
adro thethy, around it (feminine), O 778. 

a 9V> a e y, within ; (followed by the.) 
agy the hjst, in the lists, R 223. 
agy the ewhe an yeyth, within the evening of the day, 

R275. 
agey the'n cyte, within the city, D 627. 

athyworth, thyworth, theivortlt, from. 

kyns denas athyworto, before withdrawing from it, O 1401. 
my a's pren thyworthys, I will buy it of thee, D 1555. 
thyworth ow pen, from my head, D 1145. 
theworth urry re thuk, hast taken from Uriah, O 2244. 

athyrag, in presence of. 

• athyragough me a pys, before you I pray, D 1414. 
athyragof my re weles, I have seen before me, O 1955. 

a-ugh, over. 

nyg a-ugh lues pow, fly over many countries, O 1136. 

the tacky' e a-ugh y pen, to fasten it over his head, D 2S0S. 

avel, as, like. 

avel gos, like blood, R 2500. 
avel deivow, like gods, O 178. 
avel servant, like a servant, D 804. 

awos, notwithstanding, because of. 

awos ol ow gallos, notwithstanding all my power, D 53. 
awos the theu na'y vestry, notwithstanding thy god and his 

power, O 2738. 
ny yl bos awos an beys, it cannot be for the world, R 2471. 
awos dm, for God's sake, O 2564. 

bys, as far as. 
bys yn ierusalem ke, unto Jerusalem go, O 1928. 
bys yn y chy, even to his house, D 648. 
bys dethfyn, till the last day, D 724. 
E 3 



82 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

dan, under. 

yn dan gen, under the chin, O 2712. 

a than the glok, from under thy cloak, D 2682. 

yn dan an chek, under the kettle, R 139. 

dre, for, by, through. (See §. 17, p. 31.) 

hy a'n gruk dre kerense, she did it for love, D 549. 
dre owfynys, through my pains, D 45. 
dre un venen wharvethys, wrought hy a woman, O 620. 
kentrow dre ow thrys, nails through my feet, R 2587. 

dres, dreys, over, beyond. 

dres dyfen ou arluth ker, beyond the prohibition of my dear 

Lord, O 172. 
ow mos dres pow, going over the country, R1511. 
dreys dour tyber, through the river Tiber, R 2214. 

er, by. 

er an treys, by the feet, R 2082. 
er thefyth, on thy faith, O 1441. 
er an thewen, by the gods, O 2651. 

Er appears to be identical with or and icar ; see note to 
D '202, vol. I. p. 236. 

erbyn, against, towards. (Lat. obviam.) 

erbyn a laha, against law, D 572. 
erbyn haf, against summer, O 31. 

Erbyn, with a pronoun, receives the pronoun between 
er and byn, making the usual mutations ; as er owfyn, 
R-2573; er y byn,D 235. See §. 11. p. 18. 

gans, with, (accompanying.) (See §. 17, p. 31.) 
gans ow tas, with my father, D 727. 
lanters gans golow, lanterns with light, D 609. 

gans, by, with, (instrument, manner, cause, agency.) 
gans ow deu lagas me a wel, with my eyes I see, D 410. 
gans myyn gureugh hy knoukye, with stones strike her, 
O 2694. 

gans peder ha iowan parys, by Peter and John prepared, 

D 700. 
gans touth bras, with great speed, D 660. 



PREPOSITIONS. 83 

hep-. 

y a tremyn hep thanger, they shall pass without danger, 

O1615. 
hep thout, without doubt, 2668. 
hep worfen, without end, D 1562. 

herwyth, herweth, according to. 

herwyth y volungeth ef, according to his will, O 1320. 
herweth the grath, according to thy grace, O 2253. 

kyns 2 , before. 

kyns pen try dyth, before the end of three days, D 347. 
kyns vyttyn, before morning, O 1644. 

lemmyn, except. 

nag ens deu byth lemmyn ef, there are no gods except him, 
R1751. 

mamas, except. 

war pep ol mamas ty, over all but thee, 948. 

mes, yn mes, out of. 
greugh y tenne mes a'n dour, drag him out of the water } 

R 2232. 
tynneugh yn mes agan temple, drag out of our temple, 

O 2693. 
mar seugh mes a dre, if you go from home, 2185. 

rag, rah, for, because of. (See §. 17, p. 30.) 
rak eun kerenge, for real love, D 483. 
rak ow anclythyas, for my burial, D 548. 
rak the servys, for thy service, D 613. 
teweugh rak meth, silence for shame, R 1495. 
yw ou colon trogh rag agas cons, my heart is broken be- 
cause of your talk, R 1365. 
rag the offryn ker, because of thy dear offering, O 567. 

rag, from. 

guy thy s rak an bylen, preserved from the evil one, D 41. 
guyth vy rak an ioul, preserve me from the devil, R 1564. 
guythe ef rag tarofvan, preserve it from fantoms, O 2364. 

a rak, before, in presence of. 
a rak pilat, before Pilate, R 2593. 
a rak agan lagasow, before our eyes, R 1492. 



84 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

re, by, (swearing.) 

re iovyn, by Jove, O 1532. 

re synt iovyn, by Saint Jove, R 349. 

re deu an tas, by God the Father, O 1919. 

ryp, beside, near. 

ryp ihesu cryst gorrys, put beside Jesus Christ, R 266. 

me a gosh ryp y pen, I will sleep by his head, R 418. 
In the line yn p>las us omnia rybon, D 460, we have 
clearly the preposition ryp joined to the pronoun of 
the 1st pers. plural : rybon, "beside us." 

saw, except, without. 

saw y ober ha , y thyskes, without his work and his teaching, 

D57. 

ny hynwys thy'm saw pedar, he named none to me except 
Peter, R 916. 

tan, bj. 

tan oufeth, on my faith, O 2534. 
(Not found elsewhere.) 
the, to. (See §. 17, p. 3 1 .) 
thyworth, theworth, from. See athyworth. 

trogha, troha, towards. 
stop an wethen trogha'n dor, bend the tree towards the 

ground, O 201. 
fystyn trogha parathys, hasten towards Paradise, O 332. 
troha ~kenpow, towards another country, O 344. 
fystynyugh troha' n daras, hasten towards the door, O 349. 

war 2 , upon. (See §. 17, p. 31.) 

war veneth (meneth), upon a mountain, O 1281. 
war beyn (peyn) cregy, on pain of hanging, O 2280. 
war thu (du), to God, D 40, 357. 
war tyr veneges, on blessed ground, O 1407. 

warlergh, after, according to, (receives a governed 
pronoun in the middle, like erbyn.) 

warlergh the gussullyow, after thy counsels, O 2269. 
war the lergh owth ymwethe, craving after thee, R 11 70. 
war aga lergh fystynyn, after them let us hasten, O 1641. 



PREPOSITIONS. 85 

worth, at, to, against. (See §. 17, p. 32.) 

the tros worth men, thy foot against a stone, D 98. 
worth an trey tor, to the traitor, D 1449. 

ivose, ivoge, after. 

sythyn wose hemma, a week after this, O 1026. 
woge soper, after supper, D 834. 

iuos°. (Xot found elsewhere.) 

wostalleth na wosteweth, at first, nor at last, O 2762. 

This may be equivalent to war + dalleth, and war + de- 
weth ; compare wor tyweth, D 1818. 

yn, in, into. (See §. 17, p. 30.) 

nyn sa yn agas ganow, it goes not into your mouth, 

O1913. 
yn ou enef, in my soul, D 1022. 
ynpup termyn, at all times, D 1040. 

yntre, ynter, among, between. 

yntre y thyns (dyns) ha'y davas (tavas), between his teeth 

and his tongue, O 826. 
yntre an mor ha'n tyryow, between the sea and the lands, 

O26. 

yntre and ynter take th before a pronoun, like the pre- 
positions enumerated in §. 17. 
yntretho ha'y gowethe, between him and his companions 

D1288. 
yntrethe gasaf ow ras, among them I leave my grace, 

R 1584. 
yntrethon, between us, O 936. 
ol ores yntrethough, all peace among you, R 2433. 
me a thybarth ynterthogh, I will divide between ye, D 2325, 



86 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 



§.37. CONJUNCTIONS. 

aban, since, because. 

aban ywe yn delta, since it is so, D 1953. 

aban golste worty hy, because thou hearkenedst to her, 

O269. 
aban na vynta cresy, since thou wilt not believe, O 241. 

ages, es, ys, eys, than. 

teke ayes kyns, fairer than before, D 348. 

tekke alter es del us genen, a fairer altar than such as is 
with us, O 1 179. 

gueth ys ky, worse than a dog, R 2026. 

hacre mernans eys emlathe, a more cruel death than self- 
killing, R 2073. 

Es and ages take suffixed pronouns, as do the prepo- 
sitions enumerated in §. 17. 

ken deu agesos, another God than thou, R 2477. 

ken arluth agesso ef, another Lord than him, O 1789. 

y fynnaf vy mos pella esough, I will go further than you, 
R 1299. 

ken agesough, other than you, O 2357. 

bo, or. 

bo ken deaulyw, or else he is a devil, R 2104. 
drefen, because. 

drefen na fynnyth crygy, because thou wilt not believe, 

R1106. 
drefen un wyth the henwel, because of once calling on thee, 
O 2724. 

erna, until. 

erna wrello tremene, until she be dead, O 2695. 
erna'n prenny, until thou pay for it, O 2653. 

ha, and. 

map ha tas, Son and Father, D 297. 

outus hammy (ha my), my people and me, O 971. 

Takes g before a vowel, as, hag yn tyr, and in the earth, 

O 27; hag ef ha kemmys, both he and as many as, 

Ri76a 



CONJUNCTIONS. 87 

fiedre, whilst, as long as. 

hedre vyyn ou predery, whilst I am considering, O 2035. 
hedre veyn beu, as long as I am living, D 115. 
hedre vy may fo anken, until it be that death is, O 276. 
hedre vo yn the herwyth, as long as it is in thy power, 

O 1464. 
hedre vyugh byu, as long as ye are living, O 2349. 
hedre vyns y yn ou gidas, as long as they shall be in my 

kingdom, O 1503. 

1-yn, ken, though. 

l-ynfe terrys, though it be broken, D 354. 

ken nay of ynyw, though I am not worthy, D 481. 

kyn wrello son, though he should make a noise, R 2016. 

kettel, when. 

kettel tersys an bara, when thou didst break the bread, 

R1318. 
kettel thueth er agan pyn, when he came to meet us, 

R1329. 

lemmyn, but. 

nyn syu gulan lemmyn mostys, it is not clean but dirty, 

R 1927. 
lemmyn yn tan bos cuthys, but in fire to be covered, R 2326. 

ma, that. 

pys e ma'n danfonno, pray him that he send him, R 1620. 
ma na ivothfo gorthyby, that he may not know how to re- 
ply, D 1660. 
ma gas bo, that it be to you (that you may havej, D 226. 

mar°, mara , if. 

mar qureugh (gureugh) ou wylas, if ye do seek me, D 1 121, 

mar a'n pesaf ef, if I pray him, D 1166. 

mara keusysfalsury, if I spoke falsehood, D 1271. 

mara pethe (bethe) lei iuggys, if he be fairly judged, D 1344. 

mara qureta {gureta), if thou dost, D 1385. 

Before the verb substantive, and some others with an 
initial vowel, mar takes s or th, which apparently had 
nearly the same sound; (see §.4. p. 8); as mar syu, 
"if he is," R 520; mar sos, "if thou art," D 60 ; 
mar seth, "if thou go," O 2652 ; mar seugh, "if you 
go," O 2185 ; mar thes, " if thou be," O 608. Mara 



88 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

is frequently used in this case : mara syw, " if it be," 
O 2563, R 828 ; mara sethe, " if he be gone," R 538. 
The Manuscript is not constant in dividing the words, 
and I have also been very uncertain about it in the 
text : I should now be inclined to join the s or th to 
the verb, considering it, in the verb-substantive at 
least, to be a restoration of the original sibilant. See 

P-93- 
Perhaps we should always write mar a divided ; the 
division is complete in R 2542, two words inter- 
vening: mar fur torment a cothfen, "if we had known 
the cruel torment." 
marnes, mars, unless. 

marnes drethos vernona, unless by thee Veronica, R 2220. 
mars dre mur our, unless by much gold, R 1964. 
mars cryst a weres, unless Christ helps, R 2132. 
mas in R 47 and O 1504 may be put for mars. 

may, that. 

may tewe an tan wharre, that the fire may kindle soon, 
D 1221. 

mes, but. 

mes mara keusys yn lei, but if I have spoken truly, D 1273. 
pan^, when, since. 

han vyrwyf (myrwyf), when I die, D 227. 

pan cam worthybys, when he answered rudely, D 1403. 

pan theugh marfreth, when you come so bold, D ni5. a 
Pan appears to be used also in the way of deprecation, 
as, 

govy pan y'n gruga, wo is me that I did it ! D 1434. 

ellas vyth pan ruk cole, alas ! that I ever listened, O 626. 

rag, rak, ragh, for, because. 

rag pur tha ew, for it is very good, O 2572. 

ragh map an pla, for the son of evil, D 10. 

rak the vones dyvythys, for that thou art come, D 280. 

PV, or. 

pynak vo lettrys py lek, whether he be lettered or lay, 
D681. 

a This is probably a present tense of the verb dones, ' to 
come.' 



CONSTRUCTION. 89 

yn nep bos teivl py yn sorn, in some bush, hole, or in a 

corner, R 539. 
nep a serf py a theber, he who serves, or who eats, D 799. 

sau, saw, but. 

sau dystoffh hy a vyth due, but soon it will be done, O 2178. 
sau an etliyn byneges, but the blessed birds, O 1067. 
saw bytegyns ragon ny, but nevertheless for us, R 980. 



§. 38. CONSTRUCTION. 

The few observations collected while making the 
version of the Dramas are too desultory to admit of 
the name of Syntax ; much of what might pass 
under that name is incorporated with the preceding 
pages, and the few remaining observations are set 
down here without much pretension to system. It 
may be observed once for all, that the exigencies of 
metre have apparently compelled the author of 
these Dramatic Writings to such inversions and ir- 
regularities as are met with in all earlier attempts 
at metrical composition. 

When a transitive verb governs an accusative 
substantive, the pronoun corresponding with the 
substantive is often added, as, me a's ygor an clar- 
asow, R 638, literally, " I will open them the 
doors;" an memans me a'n Tcymmer, 1332, " the 
death I will take it •" ha henna ny a'n guylvyth, 
R 53, (i and that we shall see it ;" an gorhel my 
a'n gura, O 966, " the ship I will make it." 

When a verb which has a plural subject comes 
before the subject, it does not agree with it, but is 
put in the singular : as, y fyth agan enefoiu, " our 
souls shall be," D j$ ; re'n kergho an deivolow, 
"may the devils fetch him," R 2277. 



90 CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

When a verb in the infinitive mood follows a 
verb implying motion, it is commonly preceded by 
the, as in English by the corresponding particle 
"to:" as, 

dun ny the veras, let us come to see, O 2325. 
dun the gyrhas, let us come to fetch, O 2371. 
mos the vyras, to go to see, D 1399. 
eugh tWy drehy, go to cut it, O 2505. 
deu a'm danfonas the wofyn, God sent me to ask, O 1431. 
But we have also rag, as in dun rag offrynna, "let us 
come to offer," O 1307. Dun, 'come,' in these cases is 
like the English ' come along,' where other languages 
use ' go.' 

When the infinitive expresses the object or aim 
of a verb going before, it is preceded by rag, corre- 
sponding with the French pour, and our own vulgar 
"for:" as, 

gorre an prynner rag lesky an sacryfys, put the wood 

(for) to hum the sacrifice, O 1324. 
lafurye a wra rah dry den, he will labour to bring man, 

D16. 
ny a vyn mos rah y worthe, we will go to worship him, 

D 236. 
After an auxiliary verb the infinitive comes im- 
mediately, without any preposition : as, 

mar mynnyth hy dystrewy, if thou wilt destroy her, O 2675. 
ny vennaf cafus le, I will not take less, D 594. 
na allaf kerthes, nor can I go on, O 374. 
ma yllyn mos, that we may go, D 708. 

But we have also 

mennafthe terry, I will break, D 485. 
and sometimes there is no preposition where we 
should expect to find the ; as, 

me a'th pys agan sawye, I pray thee to save us, D 272. 

Instead of using the conjunction "that" with 
another verb in the indicative mood, as in most 
European languages, it is usual to put the second 



CONSTRUCTION. 91 

verb in the infinitive preceded by the personal pro- 
noun, as is common in Latin : 

ha cous ef the thasserhy, and say that he has risen, R 24. 
marth a'm hues ty the leverel folneth, it is a wonder to me 

that thou shouldst speak folly, R 961. 
nyn sa y'm colon why the geusel, it goes not into my heart, 

(i. e. I do not believe) that you have spoken, R 1481. 
del icon the bos, as I know thee to be, R 859. 

The subjunctive mood is used in its natural signi- 
fication : that is to say, whenever the verb expresses 
an uncertainty, or expectation, or contingency of 
any sort, without regard to any conjunction pre- 
ceding ; thus Mary Magdalene says, ken nag of 
guyw, "though I am not worthy," D 481, in the 
indicative mood, acknowledging her own unworthi- 
ness ; but the gaoler directs his servant to put 
Pilate in prison, hyn ivrello son, " though he may 
make a noise," R 2016; and this notwithstanding 
both verbs are preceded by the same conjunction: the 
French language would use the subjunctive in both 
cases ; quoique je sois, and quoiqu'ilfasse. So del 
os luen a ras, " as thou art full of grace," 1 06, 
in the indicative, expressing a full belief, and del 
y'm kyrry, " as thou lovest me," O 53 7, in the sub- 
junctive, where a doubt is implied. This is however 
not always observed; the Cornish writers were 
hardly skilled enough in composition to be always 
accurately guided, and rhyme or metre was fre- 
quently exigent. The following examples of the 
subjunctive mood will suffice to give an insight into 
its use. 

er na wrello tremene, (beat her) until she be dead, O 2695. 

er na'n prenny, (thou shalt not get away) until thou pay for 
it, O 2653. 

kynfe an temple dyswrys, though the temple were destroy- 
ed, D 365. 



m CORNISH GRAMMAR. 

may hyllyf y lathe, (give me a sword) that I may kill him, 

R 1969. 
pys e thy'm ma , n danfonno, pray him that he send him to 

me, R 1620. 
ma na wothfo, that he shall not know, D 1660. 
dre clethe nep a vewo, he who lives by the sword, D 1158. 



NOTE. 

Since the preceding sheets were printed, the following forms 
have been noticed in the irregular verbs : — 

In p. 68. 1st tense, deugh, ye come, D 11 15. 

dethons, they come, Pas. 258, 1. 
Imperative, deug, come ye, R 3239. 
In p. 70. 2d tense, gothyen, I knew, R 2544, 2559. 
gothye, he knew, Pas. 101, 2. 
Pgotham, Pas. 245. 3. 
4th tense, gothfes, thou knewest. O 151. 
5th tense, gothfy, thou shalt know, D 1042. 
Participle, gothvethys, known, O 1520. 
In p. 63, apparently in the 4th tense of the verb sub- 
stantive, beyn, D 115. 

byyn, O 2035. qu. plural. 
byugh, O 2349. 
byns, O 1503. 



93 



The following forms of Irregular Verbs may be 
added to the preceding ; they have been found 
since the others were printed. 

dora, I should bring, R 1789. 
drew, bring ye, D 178. 
drewh, bring ye, R 1776. 
druth, brought, R 2492. 
druyth, brought, 162 1. 
dres, brought, D 1569. 
dues, to come, R 647. 
deve, I come, R 2620. 
de, will come, 2431, D 541. 
dy, will come, D 1654. 
dufe, (if) he come, R 7. 
den, let us come, 2543. 

'1, ye come, D 11 15. 

h, come ye, R 323. 
dens, let them come, D 694. 
dothe, may come, 1744. 
dothye,! R 2450. 
ow tos, coming, D 370, R 145. 
eth, he went, 3rd tense, R 835. 
ylly, thou shalt go, 5th tense, R 2452. 
ou mos, going, R 2298. 
gothyen, I knew, 2nd tense, R 2544, 2559, 
gofhyan, I knew, 2nd tense, R 2614. 
gothfen, I should know, 4th tense, D 1287. 
gothfye, he would know, 4th tense, D 490. 
gothfough, ye should know, 4th tense, D 2156. 
got her, the passive, 2332. 
guren, I would do, 2nd tense, D 1622, R 1894. 

fa, he may do, 2nd tense, R 2473. 



gurellough, you may do, 2nd tense, D 2196. 
grussyn, we did, 3rd tense, R 1341. 
gruga (that) I did, 3rd tense, D 1434. 

"When the present participle governs a pronoun, it is 
made by orth or worth, instead of ou or ow : as ymons 
y orth y sywe, they are following him, 1688 ; y these 
gems Ihesu worth y servye, he was with Jesus serving 
him, D 1406. See also 1) 342, 442, 1141, 1333, 2994. 



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